Clothing grants and free school meals

You can get free school meals if your child goes to one of our schools and your household receives certain benefits.

All children in Primary 1 to Primary 5 automatically receive free school meals.

If you get Housing Benefit and/or Council Tax Reduction from us, you do not need to apply. We will check the information we already hold and award the grant automatically if you qualify. If you get Universal Credit and do not get Council Tax Reduction, you can apply online.

Who can get free school meals

Your child may qualify if you receive any of the following:

• Pension Credit
• Scottish Child Payment (P6 and P7 pupils)
• Support under Part VI of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999 
• Universal Credit (and your earned income is less than £995 as assessed by the Department for Work and Pensions in the assessment period immediately preceding the application for free school meals)

Important

If your child qualifies for Free School Meals under the Scottish Child Payment eligibility criteria, you will not be entitled to receive payments for meals during the school holidays.

How to apply

You only need to apply if we cannot automatically award your entitlement.

Do not apply if you:

• get Housing Benefit or Council Tax Reduction from us

We will assess your entitlement using the information we already hold.

Apply online if you:

• receive Universal Credit and do not get Council Tax Reduction

Single person discount is not the same as Council Tax Reduction. If you only get single person discount, you should still apply.

What you need

Before you start, have your evidence ready to upload. This may include your most recent Universal Credit statement, a benefit award letter, or proof of Child Benefit.

If you get Universal Credit, upload all pages of your latest payment statement. Make sure it shows your name and address, the assessment period, and all payment and deduction details.

Missing pages can delay your application.

Submit evidence

If you have been asked to provide evidence to support an application that you have already made for a clothing grant or free school meals, you can submit this using our online form. 

If you need help with uploading evidence, see our guidance on uploading files to online forms.

Bank details

If we have contacted you to provide your bank details for clothing grants or free school meals holiday payment, use our form below to send us your details

Other help

For information on clothing grants, please check our clothing grants page. 

If you qualify for certain benefits, you may also be able to get a leisure concession card from South Lanarkshire Leisure with up to 50% off some activities.

Find out about the leisure concession card