What are free school meal categories?
From the start of the 2026 to 2027 academic year, every child in a household receiving Universal Credit is entitled to free school meals. DfE now splits benefits-based FSM into two categories, and the school census asks which one applies to each period of eligibility.
Only Targeted FSM attracts pupil premium. The category you record decides whether your school gets pupil premium for that pupil.
FSM categories
Category | Who it covers | Counts for pupil premium and Ever 6 FSM | Included in the school census |
Targeted FSM | Pupils who meet the existing benefits-based criteria, including Universal Credit with annual household earnings of £7,400 or less | Yes | Yes |
Expanded FSM | Pupils in England from Universal Credit households with annual earnings above £7,400. Meals only. Can't start before 1 August 2026 | No | Yes |
Other FSM | Meals your school or local authority funds for pupils who don't meet DfE criteria. For your own records | No | No |
A pupil with Expanded or Other FSM can still be PP eligible through another route, for example as a service child or a looked after child.
Other FSM isn't included in your census return and doesn't attract any DfE funding.
Don't record universal infant free school meals (Reception, Year 1 and Year 2) as FSM eligibility.
Records created before the change
Every FSM record created before the July 2026 update has been set to Targeted FSM, with its original start date. This was done according to DfE guidance, as Expanded FSM didn't exist before 1 August 2026.
⚠️ Important: Do not change these records by updating their category or start date. Only add an end date if the pupil's Targeted eligibility has actually ended. These records are the pupil's Ever 6 FSM history, and changing them can remove pupil premium your school is entitled to.
Record FSM periods 
🔒 The actions within this section are controlled by the Free school meals permission
View a pupil's FSM periods
Open the student's profile.
Find the Free school meals card.
The card lists each period with its Category, Start date, End date, Eligibility verification date and Review date. A period with no end date shows as ongoing.
Add an FSM period
Open the student's profile.
On the Free school meals card, click Add.
Choose the Category.
Enter the Start date, and the End date if you know it.
Enter the Eligibility verification date. This is the date you confirmed the pupil's eligibility, for example the date of the Eligibility Checking Service result.
Satchel One fills in the Review date one year after the verification date. You can change or clear it.
Click Save.
Move a pupil between Targeted and Expanded
When a family's circumstances change, don't change the category on the existing period. Instead:
Edit the current period and enter an End date.
Add a new period with the new category, starting the next day. An Expanded FSM period can't start before 1 August 2026.
Enter a new Eligibility verification date for the new period.
Keep only one ongoing period per pupil, and don't let periods overlap.
The census reports every period with its category. If you change the category on an old period, the census will show the pupil as never having had Targeted FSM for that time. They then drop out of Ever 6 FSM and your school loses their pupil premium.
End or delete an FSM period
End a period when the pupil is no longer eligible. Enter an End date and leave the category and start date unchanged. The period stays in the pupil's history and still counts towards Ever 6 FSM if it was Targeted.
Delete a period only if it was entered by mistake, for example on the wrong pupil. Deleting a Targeted FSM period removes it from the pupil's history and from the census, which can take them out of Ever 6 FSM and reduce your pupil premium.
Eligibility verification date
The school census needs an eligibility verification date for every live FSM period, meaning any period with no end date or an end date after census day. Records created before July 2026 don't have a verification date.
Before you run the census, open each pupil with a live FSM period and check the date is filled in.
Satchel One fills in the Review date one year after the verification date. Use it to plan your next eligibility check.
Transitional protections ended on 31 August 2026. If a pupil kept FSM only under transitional protection and no longer meets the criteria, end their period.
Importing FSM via CTF
The FSM category comes from the CTF. If the sending school's system didn't include a category, the period is saved as Targeted FSM.
This often happens with CTFs created before the sending school's system was updated. Check the FSM periods of any pupil who joins you with a CTF. If a period arrives as Other FSM, check whether the pupil meets the Targeted or Expanded criteria.
Pupil premium and Ever 6 FSM
🔒 The actions within this section are controlled by the Inclusion summary permission
The PP eligible indicator in the student's Inclusion summary covers pupils with:
Targeted FSM now or at any point in the last six years (Ever 6 FSM)
Service child status now or in the last six years
Looked after or previously looked after status
Expanded FSM and Other FSM don't make a pupil PP eligible.
The FSM indicator is different: it shows any current FSM period, whatever the category. So a pupil can show FSM without being PP eligible.
The PP recipient indicator hasn't changed. It comes from the file you download from GIAP. See Pupil Premium imports.
When funding changes
Your 2026 to 2027 pupil premium was calculated from the October 2025 census, so the change doesn't affect it.
The 2027 to 2028 allocation will use the October 2026 and January 2027 census data, and only Targeted FSM pupils will count.
Expanded FSM pupils don't attract pupil premium, but DfE funds the extra meals through the FSM expansion grant, based on the change in FSM numbers between the October 2025 and October 2026 census. Recording Expanded pupils accurately still matters.
Census errors
DfE's census validation includes two new FSM errors:
Error | What it checks | How to fix it |
4061 | An FSM period that's ongoing on census day has no eligibility verification date | Add the verification date to the period |
4064 | An Expanded FSM period starts before 1 August 2026 | Change the start date to 1 August 2026 or later. If the period started earlier, it was Targeted: set it back to Targeted, end it, and add a new Expanded period |
FAQ
Question | Answer |
Why does a pupil show FSM but not PP eligible? | Their current FSM period is Expanded or Other, and they have no Targeted FSM period in the last six years. |
All our FSM records say Targeted. Is that right? | For periods that started before 1 August 2026, yes. Check any period added since then, especially periods that arrived with a CTF. |
A pupil has moved from Expanded to Targeted. What do I do? | End the Expanded period and add a new Targeted period starting the next day. Don't change the category on the existing period. |
I changed the category on an old period by mistake. How do I fix it? | Set the category back, enter an end date, then add a new period with the correct category from the date the circumstances changed. |
A pupil's eligibility has ended. Should I delete the period? | No. Add an end date. Only delete a period that was entered by mistake. |
Can I see every pupil's FSM category in one list? | Not yet. The category is shown on each pupil's Free school meals card. We're adding category and verification date columns to the student directory. |
When should I use Other FSM? | Only for meals your school or local authority funds for pupils who don't meet DfE criteria. If a pupil meets the Targeted or Expanded criteria, use that category. Other FSM isn't sent in the census. |
Can I check eligibility in Satchel One? | No. Use your local authority or the DfE Eligibility Checking Service, then record the result and the verification date in Satchel One. |