Free school meals and uniform grant
How to apply for free school meals and Islington’s uniform grant.
How to get free school meals
To get free school meals, children must be in full time education and parents or carers must get a qualifying benefit, like Universal Credit.
To get free school meals, children must be either:
- full time at school-based nurseries and maintained nursery schools or, if part time, attending before and after lunch
- pupils in state funded primary, secondary or special schools
- enrolled in state funded further education
Qualifying benefits
Either you or your child must get one or more of these benefits:
- Universal Credit
- support under part 6 (VI) of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999
- income related Employment and Support Allowance (ESA)
- Pension Credit
Check if your child can get free school meals
Check whether your child can get free school meals meal on the Citizens Portal.
Check if you can get free school meals
Your result is for the whole school year (September 2026 to August 2027). We check all free school meals assessments in the summer every year to make sure you can still get them.
If you are a family with no recourse to public funds (NRPF), check if you can apply for free school meals on GOV.UK.
Applications must be confirmed by us or your child's school.
Uniform grant
Your child can get one payment of £150 for their uniform if the child both:
- lives in Islington
- gets free school meals
You do not have to contact us or apply to get this as long as:
- your child is in year 6
- you had signed up for free school meals before and your child can still get them
You will get the uniform payment when your child moves to secondary school from year 6.
If your child lives outside Islington and attends school in Islington, you should contact the council where your child lives for support.
If you have not registered for free school meals before, you must apply for them online. Send the result from Citizens Portal (the outcome assessment) to freeschoolmeal@islington.gov.uk.
Contact us
If you have any questions, contact us by:
