Management Information Sheet
Specialist Resource Bases - Free School Meal Costs (Clarification)
It is assumed that schools with SRB's that have already received free meal funding themselves for the pupil in question will not ask to claim the free meal cost back from another school.
It is for the schools concerned to agree whether or not the SRB has had the appropriate free school meal funding and to arrange any transfer of that funding.
Below is some information to help schools determine which school has received the funding for free school meals:
Non-universal free school meals (i.e. deprivation based) are funded to schools via the Budget Share within the deprivation line, based on the children recorded as eligible on the October census preceding the financial year. The proportion of pupils recorded as eligible at the school is applied to the total number of sole or main registered pupils only.
Free school meals provided under the Universal Infant Free School Meals programme are funded to schools as a separate UIFSM grant. Funding is based on an average of the number of year 1 and year 2 pupils recorded as taking meals in the October and January censuses within the academic year, excluding those eligible for free school meals on the basis of deprivation. For year R the same methodology is used, except that if the number of meals recorded on the January census is higher than the average of the October and January censuses, then the higher number of meals is used. Dual registered pupils are counted only where they took their meal on the census days, even if it is their subsidiary setting.
The Local Authority Education Funding Team does not have free school meal information at a pupil level and hence it is for the schools concerned to agree whether or not a funding transfer for free school meals is required between them. The Local Authority cannot assist in this process, as we do hold FSM child level data.