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Helston Community College

Free School Meals - Information

Everyday over 8,000 students in Cornwall receive free school meals but there are definitely more students who could be eligible.

The easiest and quickest way to apply for Free School Meals and Pupil Premium is online. Please make sure that you have checked the eligibility criteria below before applying.

APPLY ONLINE HERE

If you are unable to apply online, please call the Free School Meals team on 01872 323298. A member of the team will call you back to complete the application over the phone. Please make sure your phone will accept calls from a private / withheld number. 

The Free School Meals team will check your eligibility with HM Revenue and Customs, The Home Office and the Department of Work and Pensions.

They will email or write to you to let you know the outcome of your application. If you are eligible, they will give you the date your child’s free school meals will start. They will also notify the College.

Telephone enquiries - 01872 323298
Email address - schoolmeals@cornwall.gov.uk

Details of the pupils who receive free school meals are always kept completely confidential by both Cornwall's Children's Service Authority and the School.

 
Free school meals eligibility criteria if you receive benefits

A child is eligible for free school meals if their parent/carer (or the child themselves) receives any of the following benefits:
  • Universal Credit (provided you have an annual net earned income of no more than £7,400, as assessed by earnings from up to three of your most recent assessment periods)
  • Income Support (IS)
  • Job Seekers' Allowance (Income-Based) and equal based Job Seekers Allowance
  • Income Related Employment and Support Allowance (ESA-IR) and equal based Employment and Support Allowance
  • Child Tax Credit (CTC) provided you're not also entitled to Working Tax Credit and have an annual gross income of no more than £16,190
  • Working Tax Credit run-on - paid for 4 weeks after you stop qualifying for Working Tax Credit
  • Guarantee Element of Pension Credit (GPC)
  • Immigration and Asylum Act 1999 (IAA) Supports

There are different eligibility criteria for families who are not entitled to benefits (NRPF - No Recourse to Public Funds). Please click here for more details.

Free School Meal transitional protections
The benefit related free school meal (FSM) protections policy was introduced in 2018. It was introduced to protect those eligible for benefit related FSM from becoming ineligible while Universal Credit (UC) is being rolled out. This was originally set to last until March 2022 and was subsequently extended to March 2023.

The end date for protections has now been extended further until March 2025. This is when we expect UC roll-out to be complete for most cohorts.

This means that a pupil who was benefit related FSM eligible on 1 April 2018, or who has become eligible under the benefits/low-earnings criteria since then, will continue to receive free meals, even if their household income exceeds the eligibility threshold, up until March 2025 and then until the end of their phase of education.
FSM application form.pdf