Renfrewshire Council

What free school meals and holiday payments are 

Free school meals 

You can get free school meals for your child at secondary school if you get certain benefits. 

All children at an Additional Support Needs (ASN) school get free school meals in secondary school for each school day. You'll also get meal payments during the holidays for your child if you're on certain benefits. 

School meal payments during the holidays 

You can also get payments for meals for your child during the school holidays if get certain benefits.

Who can get it 

Your child in secondary school can get free meals in school and holiday payments if they go to a Renfrewshire school and you get: 

• Universal Credit (where your monthly earned income is not more than £796) 
• Income Support 
• income-based Job Seeker's Allowance 
• income-based Employment and Support Allowance 
• support under Part VI of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999 
• Child Tax Credit, but not Working Tax Credit, and your income is less than £19,995 
• both Child Tax Credit and Working Tax Credit and have an income of up to £9,552. 

If you're applying for a child who has not previously attended a Renfrewshire Council school, we cannot process an application until their enrolment has been completed. This is usually during the early part of August. 

If you live in Renfrewshire and your child goes to a special school or special unit that is not within Renfrewshire, and if you meet the eligibility criteria, you can get the free school meal holiday payments.

Before you start 

You can apply for free school meals and a clothing grant at the same time. Find out about clothing grants.

You'll need to provide us with:  

• your National Insurance number  
• evidence of your household income - you can upload the proof  
• evidence of Housing Benefit or Council Tax Reduction - you can upload proof, or ask us to verify your housing benefit or Council Tax Reduction entitlement using our systems 
• evidence of Working Tax Credit or Child Tax Credits - your current Tax Credit Award Notice dated within the last 6 months 
• details of the child or children you're applying for - full name, gender, date of birth and the school they'll attend during the school year that you're applying for 
• the bank or building society account details - holiday meal payments are paid directly into a bank account.

How to apply 

Apply online 

Before you start, you'll need to register for MyAccount through mygov.scot. If you've already registered, you do not need to do it again.   

Apply for free school meals and clothing grants. 

Applications for free school meals open on 1 June 2024 and close on 31 May 2025. 

You only need to apply once in each school year. 

Free school meals will be provided from the first day of the school year, if the application form and qualifying proof has been received by 31 July. 

If you're eligible for the free school meal payments you'll also get a clothing grant. You can apply for both on the same form. Find out about clothing grants. 

Other ways to apply

You can only apply online. 

If you need help to apply: 

• contact your school 
• or phone us on 0300 300 0300, Monday to Thursday from 8:45am to 4:45pm and Friday from 8:45am to 3:55pm.

After you've applied  

We'll check the evidence you provide. If it meets the eligibility criteria, you'll get money added to your ParentPay account and the holiday meal payments will be paid into the bank or building society account that you gave us. 

You should speak to your school if you do not have a ParentPay account. 

How we pay it 

Holiday meal payments are made directly into your bank account 5 times in a school year, in: 

• October for the mid-term holiday 
• December for the Christmas holiday 
• February for the mid-term holiday 
• March or April ­­for the Easter holiday 
• June for the summer holiday (the 6-week summer payments are for children who have applied the previous year - so you need to have applied by the end of June to get the summer payments.) 

We do not back date payments - they start from when you apply. 

You get a payment of £2.35 per weekday per child during the holidays.

Related services

Clothing grants for children at school. 

Where to get benefits and money advice.

Scottish Child Payment, a four-weekly payment to help with costs for children under 16.

School Age Payment, a one off payment for when children normally start school. 

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