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The report, which is titled ‘Registration for Free School Meals (FSM): issues and implications for research, policymaking, practice and access’ is the final report from a Nuffield Foundation–funded project led by Dr Tammy Campbell and Dr Kerris Cooper at the Education Policy Institute (EPI).

The researchers argue that while free school meals eligibility has guided education policy for decades, a single measure does not reflect the complexity of children’s experiences. 

With an expansion of entitlement criteria to all families in receipt of universal credit due to begin in September 2026, experts involved in the project recommend that now is the time for a rethink of how disadvantage is defined and how resources are targeted.

Dr Tammy Campbell, co-director for early childhood and wellbeing at the Education Policy Institute, said: “For many years, free school meals eligibility has been central to how we understand and respond to disadvantage in education. It has underpinned analysis by researchers and government, informed decisions about funding and targeting, and guided interventions to support children and families.  

“But, as our report highlights, the Government needs to consider how it can build on the current FSM measure to ensure that funding is better targeted at the children who need it the most.” 

The report makes a series of recommendations for Government and policymakers, including: 

• Introduce a national system of centralised auto-enrolment for FSM to reduce the number of entitled children missing out on free meals and associated support, and to ensure that policy is implemented as intended and reaches those it is designed to benefit. 
• Extend auto-enrolment across educational stages by linking data collected at the statutory school stage with information from the pre-school years. 
• Simplify the registration process for children from families with no recourse to public funds (NRPF) by addressing administrative barriers, clarifying Government guidance, and reducing fears that claiming FSM could affect immigration or asylum status. 
• Clarify free early years meal policy and ensure providers are properly resourced to deliver meals for all children meeting FSM eligibility criteria, regardless of the type of early years setting. 
• Remove the ‘before and after lunch’ eligibility criteria for children in the pre-school stage, which complicates registration processes and creates unnecessary barriers for families and providers.