Eligibility Criteria
The table below provides a guide to the eligibility criteria. This applies to applications for free school meals and the footwear and clothing grant of £130.00 per child.
Qualifying Criteria |
Clothing Grant |
Free School Meals |
Income Support, Jobseeker's Allowance (Income Based), Employment Support Allowance (Income Related) or Support under part V1 of the Immigrations and Asylum Act 1999 |
Yes |
Yes |
Universal Credit, please provide your most recent print out from your online journal confirming your latest UC payment breakdown |
Only if annual earnings less than £16,105 |
You may qualify if you have no earnings or monthly earnings are below £610 per month |
Child Tax Credit, but not Working Tax Credit and your gross annual income is below £16,105 (as assessed on your Tax Credit award letter from HR Revenues & Customs for 2020/2021) |
Yes |
Yes |
Child Tax Credit and Working Tax Credit and your gross annual income is below £16,105 (as assessed on your Tax Credit award letter from HR Revenues & Customs for 2020/2021) |
Yes |
Only if your annual income is below £7,330 |
For Child Tax Credit and Working Tax Credit, you will need to provide us with all the pages of your recent Tax Credit Award letter. This should be dated in the last 3 months and show your expected income. For all other allowances, you need to provide your reward letter. These should be supplied at the time of applying and applications cannot be processed until this has been received.
By completing an application you confirm that the information is correct to the best of your knowledge and we ask that you inform the Council of any change in your financial circumstances.
Please note: This list is not exhaustive and is designed to give an indicator of entitlement rather than an official award. This would only be confirmed once we have all the details and evidence required to process your application.
Footwear & Clothing Grant
You can apply for a clothing grant up to 31 December 2020.
Only one clothing grant per child is allowed for each school year.
We can't pay a clothing grant for children who attend nursery.
We are unable to provide the clothing grant to young people who are 16 years old by 30th September 2020. If this applies to you, please see the guidance regarding the Education Maintenance Allowance (EMA).
If your application is successful, we aim to send you a payment before the new school term starts. We will start sending out payments direct to successful applicant's bank accounts in July. If you have applied and you have not received your payment by the start of a new school term, please contact us so we can check. If you are not entitled to a payment, we will write to you and explain why.
Free School Meals
If your child is over 2 years old and attends nursery for an extended day, they may be entitled to free schools meals. Please note, we are unable to offer this to children who attend for half-day sessions.
Young people over the age of 16 are also able to apply for this support.
You can apply for free school meals at any time. If your child qualifies for free school meals, we will let your school/nursery know. Meals will be provided from the date the application is approved and cannot be backdated.
If you experience any issues with this form please let us know.
Last updated: Wednesday, December 2, 2020 1:43 PM