Thousands more children in Cornwall will now receive free school meals thanks to a new Council process.
Introduced in July, the Free School Meals (FSM) Auto Award automatically checks whether some children are eligible for free school meals and enrols them if they qualify.
The process has identified and signed up a further 14,000 children who may otherwise not have been receiving them, saving their families a total of £6.9m a year (£495 per child).
This means there are now 17,485 children across Cornwall who receive free school meals.
It also means schools stand to receive substantially more money as ‘pupil premium funding’ from the government is directly linked to how many of their pupils receive free school meals.
In fact, Cornish schools are set to receive an extra £11.9m because of the extra 14,000 children now enrolled for free meals.
Over the six-year period for which FSM eligibility can attract pupil premium funding, this equates to around £71.3 million in additional funding for schools.
The FSM Auto Award process sees the Council use information it already holds to identify children who may qualify, such as households that receive Housing Benefit or Council Tax Support.
Cllr Hilary Frank, Cabinet Member for Children, Schools and Families, said:
“It’s fantastic news that 14,000 more children across Cornwall will now receive free school meals, without their families having to fill in any paperwork. That could save familIes nearly £500 a year per child, helping to ease the pressure on household budgets. It will also bring substantial additional pupil premium funding into Cornish schools, helping them provide extra support where it is most needed.”
FSM Auto Award was implemented ahead of new national eligibility rules introduced by the Department for Education from September this year.
Under the new rules, all households receiving Universal Credit become eligible for free school meals, with the current household income threshold being removed. Eligibility will also be reviewed at the start of each academic year.
For more information about free school meals and the new Auto Award process, visit the School Meals webpages on the Council's website.