Free School Meal Auto-Enrolment

From July 2026, Nottingham City Council (NCC) will introduce an opt-out auto-award approach to Free School Meals (FSM). This approach helps to make sure that children in Nottingham who are entitled to FSM do not miss out on receiving them. The scheme will also support schools with additional funding opportunities.

What is ‘opt-out auto-award’?

Children can receive FSM if their family meets certain UK government criteria. Opt-out auto award means drawing on existing Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) data and city council records to identify and register entitled children for FSM, without their family needing to apply.

Families can still choose not to take part (this is called opting out). But if they do nothing, their child will be registered for the next school census.

More details about how this process works are at the bottom of this page.

Why this is important

Free school meals (FSM) help support families with lower incomes. Yet many children who are entitled are not registered, and children are missing out on nutritious meals. Schools also miss out on vital pupil premium funding, intended to further support pupils.

Opt-out auto-award has already been successfully introduced in several areas across the UK. There are many benefits, including:

• Children get better access to nutritious meals, which supports concentration, attendance, and overall academic performance
• Families could save up to £450 per year (per child), helping alleviate financial pressures and improving food security
• Schools receive more funding to support pupils and benefit from less administrative workload.

Opt-out auto-award helps to reduce under-registration, ensuring all entitled pupils have the opportunity to receive a FSM.

NCC’s new opt-out auto-award process will be even more important from September 2026, when FSM eligibility is extended to all households receiving Universal Credit.

We want to make sure that all entitled children benefit from receiving these meals.

Opt-out auto-award, in more detail

There are four main steps in our new opt-out auto-award approach:

1. Collecting the data

NCC will bring together information from government and city council held records to find pupils who are entitled to free school meals but not yet registered.

2. Checking the data

NCC will review the combined data and identify families:

• with school-aged children,
• who receive certain government-specified benefits,
• who are not already receiving FSM

3. Giving families the chance to opt out

NCC will send the families of entitled pupils a letter explaining:

• what free school meals are
• the benefits of these
• NCC’s plan to register their child for FSM

The letter also lets families know that if they prefer that the Council team didn’t do this, they can opt out by sending an email to the Free School Meal team via Pupil.Benefits@nottinghamcity.gov.uk

4. Registering pupils

Once the opt-out period ends, NCC will remove the records of those families who opted out.

NCC will share the list of pupils to register for the support with schools, through the usual Department for Education (DfE) process, in time for the next school census.

NCC will only share information with your child’s school. For more details on how we use your information, see our Privacy Notice on our website (School admissions | Nottingham City Council).

To note: If you have any specific requirements (e.g. dietary and cultural needs), please let your child’s school know. As per the School Food in England Guidance, meals can usually be adapted to meet these requirements.

Timescales

NCC is working closely with schools, our data and IT teams, and national partners to implement this system securely and effectively.

NCC aims to start contacting during or before the summer break.

NCC will keep this webpage updated with the latest information as the project progresses.

If you do not want your child to be registered, you can opt out by completing the form below before the deadline stated in your opt-out letter.
Opt-Out Form