Free School Meals

Are you entitled to Free School Meals (FSM)?

If you think you may be eligible, or if you were eligible in the previous year,  please visit Admissions to check. They can reinstate your FSM or ask you to make a new application.

The government funding rate for for free meals in further education is £2.53 per student per meal for the coming academic year.   

If you are approved for FSM, you will receive an allowance of £2.53 per day. This will be uploaded to your student ID card automatically on a daily basis.

To use your FSM allowance, you must take your student ID card to the college refectory each day that you are in college. You can use your allowance at either breakfast or lunch.

You will need to select from the free school meal deals available. There will be a choice of a breakfast, sandwich, or hot meal deal option each day (there will be posters in the refectory indicating the meal deals available). The deals are all worth £2.53 or less.

Take your meal deal selection to the refectory cashier. They will swipe your card against the FSM card reader entitlement list and complete the free meal deal transaction.

Please ensure you use the full allocation of £2.53 each day you are in college. If you do not use it daily, you will lose it as any remaining balance will not be carried forward to another day.

If you have any further questions about FSM, please contact the Admissions Office.

Free School Meal Eligibility

Students aged between 16 and 18 on 31 August, may be eligible for a daily free meal in the current academic year. Students who are 18 at the start of their course and will 19 during their study programme will remain eligible for a free meal until the end of the academic year, or to the end of their study programme, whichever is sooner.

Students aged between 19 and 24 who are subject to a Learning Difficulty Assessment (LDA) or Education Health and Care Plan (EHC Plan) and ESF students aged between 16 and 18 on 31 August are also entitled to a free meal while attending their course, if they meet the eligibility criteria.

To find out if your child is entitled to free school meals, contact Admissions Bursary Administrator

If you receive any of the following you/your child may be entitled to receive free school meals:

• Income Support
• income-based Jobseekers Allowance
• income-related Employment and Support Allowance (ESA)
• support under part VI of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999
• the guarantee element of State Pension Credit
• Child Tax Credit (provided you are not entitled to Working Tax Credit) and have an annual gross income of no more than £16,190, as assessed by Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs
• Working Tax Credit run-on – paid for 4 weeks after you stop qualifying for Working Tax Credit
• during the initial roll out of Universal Credit

A student is only eligible to receive a free meal when they, or a parent/carer on their behalf, have made a successful application to Brooklands College Bursary. On approval for FSM this will be linked to their Student ID card which they must take to the Refectory to claim their free meal.

Free meals in further education funded institutions: guide for the 2023 to 2024 academic year – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)