We’re introducing a new approach (opt-out auto-award) to help make sure that children in Devon who are entitled to free school meals (FSM) don’t miss out on receiving them.
It will also bring in additional money for schools because, as you know, pupil premium funding is based on the number of children registered for free school meals.
What’s changing?
We’re introducing an ‘opt-out’ rather than ‘opt-in’ system that draws on existing public sector and internal county council records to identify and register eligible children for FSM, without their family needing to apply.
Families will still have the option to decline the support, but the default will be inclusion, removing the burden of application from parents and carers.
Why are we doing this?
Barriers such as language, stigma, lack of digital access and confusion about entitlement can stop families applying for FSM, which means children miss out on support and schools miss out on funding.
Auto-enrolment has already been successfully introduced in several areas across the UK to address the gap between the entitlement and uptake of free school meals, and the benefits are wide-reaching – these include:
- children having better access to nutritious meals, which supports concentration, attendance, and overall academic performance
- families facing less financial pressure and food insecurity
- schools receiving more funding and less administrative workload. This is especially relevant for entitled Key Stage 1 children who don’t register for Free School Meals (and therefore don’t attract Pupil Premium funding). This is because they already receive lunch through the UIFSM scheme for pupils in Reception, Year 1, and Year 2.
- the council advancing its goals to reduce child poverty, promote equity, and improve service access
We need your help
Once we’ve identified the pupils in Devon who are entitled to FSM, but not yet registered, we’ll let their school, college or educational setting know. This is because we would like you to contact their family to let them know we’re going to register their child for FSM, and what to do if they wish to opt out. We’re asking you to do this, rather than contacting them directly, because:
- you already have a trusted relationship with families
- you are most likely to have the most accurate contact details
- it’s the quickest and most reliable way to get in touch, minimising the chance of delays and errors
We know your time is limited, so we’ve kept things simple with easy-to-follow guidance and ready-made templates to help avoid any extra workload. We will provide a template letter for you to send to families, which includes information about the process and a link to a short online form to use if they wish to opt out. This won’t affect any current support they receive; it just means that they won’t be included in the automatic checks.
Once the opt-out period ends, we’ll remove the records of those families who don’t want to register their child for FSM and sign the rest up through the usual DfE process.
We’ve already held two online information sessions for schools to learn more about the project and ask questions. This has helped us provide FAQs support for schools.
Further information sessions will be held in the new autumn term 2025.
Timescales
We’re working with a consultancy firm called Basis, who has supported other local authorities to implement this system securely and effectively.
We aim to identify, and register, entitled children in time for the October census, so schools don’t miss out on vital Pupil Premium funding. However, this depends on when we receive the benefits data from the government, which we’re still waiting for.
Thank you, as always, for your continued support. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with our free school meals team by emailing freeschoolmeals@devon.gov.uk or Lindsay Cook at Basis by emailing lindsay.cook@basis.co.uk.