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Chapter Three: Identification of those Eligible for Free School Meals

Currently, entitlement concerning free school meals for school children throughout Scotland is linked to the benefits system. Until 2003, free school meal eligibility was mainly linked to Income Support. Then in 2003 a system of tax credits was introduced that has seen benefits such as Income Support becoming gradually phased out. In order to reflect this change, it was necessary to update the eligibility criteria and as such the Education (School Meals) (Scotland) Act 2003 was introduced. This had a remit of ensuring that children would not be disadvantaged due to the tax credit changes. This linked entitlement to receipt of maximum Child Credit that would be subject to an income threshold but not Working Tax Credit. Since this has been implemented, the income threshold has been updated on an annual basis.

As detailed in the background section, from 6 April 2006, the annual threshold of income determining entitlement linked with Child Credit was increased to £14,155 from £13,910 the previous year.

3.1 Eligibility Criteria

The Scottish Executive issues guidance on eligibility for free school meals to all local authorities on an annual basis.

Children are eligible for free school meals if they or their parents are in receipt of one of the following:

• Income support ( IS) or Income-based Job Seekers Allowance ( IBJSA);
• Child Tax Credit, but not receiving Working Tax Credit and have an annual income (as assessed by the Inland Revenue) of below £14,155;
• Those within families who receive support under Part VI of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999 may also be entitled ⁶.

Only 24 local authority websites had details of eligibility criteria. However, the telephone interviews carried out among local authorities within Scotland showed that all local authorities worked with the criteria provided by the Scottish Executive on eligibility for free school meals.

When asked to confirm eligibility criteria, almost all respondents referred spontaneously to those in receipt of IS or IBJSA, children receiving IS or IBJSA in their own right or those in receipt of Child Tax Credit but not receiving Working Tax Credit. Almost all local authorities agreed universally on the criteria for eligibility. Not all respondents were able to remember spontaneously the threshold figure because this had changed recently, although almost all were able to provide this figure on checking their documentation. That said, one local authority has set the annual income for those in receipt of child tax credit but not receiving working tax credit at a higher level of £15,555.

Not all respondents spontaneously referred to eligibility under Part VI of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999. Across the 32 local authorities, 8 had this criterion on their website and a further 9 spontaneously referred to this criterion during the telephone discussion. On prompting, the remainder of the respondents agreed that this is a criterion for eligibility for free school meals and the key reason given for a lack of top-of-mind awareness of this is a lack of individuals within their local authority qualifying under this criterion.

However, while local authority respondents were all able to provide information on the criteria used in relation to eligibility for free school meals during the telephone interviews, the initial desk research showed that 11 local authorities displayed no indication of the threshold figure for Child Tax Credit on their websites, 14 still had last year's threshold figure and only 7 had updated their information to show the new threshold figure effective from April 2006.

From both elements of this study, there were a small number of other set criteria for those eligible for free school meals. It was established that in 5 local authorities free school meals are also being granted to children whose grandparents are in receipt of Pension Credit ⁷ and have full time responsibility for bringing up the child. While this was only in practice in these 5 local authorities, some others noted this as an issue but did not offer this as an eligibility criterion as it does not fit with guidance from the Executive. Two local authorities also granted free school meals to children whose parents were in full-time further education and another local authority provided free school meals for parents/carers who have savings above £8,000, variable income, and are in receipt of Child Tax Credits (not Working Tax Credits). In 2 local authorities, there were also a small number of those receiving free school meals who are in receipt of housing benefit and/ or council tax benefits.

From both the desk research and the telephone interviews, 23 local authorities have combined application forms for free school meals and school clothing grants and 9 keep both application forms separate. However, while eligibility for free school meals typically confers entitlement to school clothing grants, eligibility for school clothing grants does not necessarily confer entitlement for free school meals. Additionally, local authorities have local discretion as to the criteria for school clothing grants but no discretion in relation to eligibility for free school meals. This discrepancy was queried by many of our respondents and is referred to in more detail in chapter 4 of this report.

The qualitative and quantitative data show that there are some variations across local authorities as to the criteria for eligibility for free school meals and not all adhere stringently to the criteria provided by the Scottish Executive. In some instances, information is not directly available via local authorities' websites on free school meals and some local authorities do not have up-to-date information on their website about eligibility criteria for free school meals.

3.2 Entitlement Identification within Local Authorities

Figures provided in the school meals survey show differences across all local authorities in terms of the proportion of those entitled to, and registered for, free school meals. The 2006 survey shows that across Scotland as a whole, 17.5 per cent of pupils were known to be entitled to free school meals and this is a decrease of 1 per cent since 2005; 16.4 per cent of all pupils were registered for free school meals. According to these data, across all the local authorities, higher percentages of pupils in primary schools are entitled to, and registered for, free school meals than in secondary schools. While the Scottish Executive is aware of differences and inconsistencies in the approach of local authorities, one of the key aims of this study was to ascertain further in-depth information as to how local authorities identify school children who are entitled to free school meals.

During the course of the telephone discussions it became apparent that there is no set or systematic way of producing figures on eligibility for free school meals. Furthermore, the fact that local authorities have no way of ensuring they are capturing all eligible applicants means that the numbers produced can only be taken as an estimate based on the measures that are in place. As the following quotation illustrates, not all of our respondents were entirely aware of how the figures provided to the Scottish Executive were produced.

"When it comes to analysing and looking at the overall numbers - that would normally be dealt with by our Education Resources. So our Education Resources work away claiming and analysing and crunching all the various bits and pieces. What I do is target the ones I know would be eligible, make the facility available for anybody to query, get an application form, fill it in and for us to make some sort of determination on that."

All the local authorities noted the difficulties they face in identifying eligible candidates for school meals, and a variety of approaches have been adopted to try and identify those eligible for free school meals. During the course of the telephone discussions, it became apparent that across most local authorities there are no formal measures in place enabling them to actively identify eligible children. In most instances, current practice within local authorities is to provide information via schools and the local authority website or education department and then wait for parents to actually come forward and register.

From the data taken from the 2006 survey, 9 local authorities claim to have 100 per cent registration of all those who are eligible in primary schools and secondary schools. A further 2 local authorities have achieved 100 per cent within either all primary schools or all secondary schools in their area.

However, what our interviews have established is that the numbers provided to the Scottish Executive can only be taken as being indicative and there is no way of knowing if they are accurate. No matter what procedures local authorities currently have in place to encourage registration, all of our respondents agreed that there are likely to be gaps where there are eligible parents who choose not to apply for free school meals.

As such, the figures from the 9 local authorities who claim to have achieved 100 per cent registration from all those eligible are not accurate due to one of two key reasons:

• Given the difficulties in pro-actively ascertaining eligibility, there are 'assumptions' made that all those eligible will apply for free school meals;
• There is no failsafe way of double checking eligibility of those who choose not to come forward.

In addition is important to note, that were authorities report 100 per cent registration, it is generally that they have not achieved complete registration, but that they have in fact not attempted to identify additional eligible children. Thus, they have returned the same figure for both the number of children eligible and the number registered.

The following paragraphs highlight different approaches that have been adopted by local authorities.

3.2.1 Identification of eligibility by schools

None of the local authorities to whom we spoke made it a requirement for schools in their area to be involved in the process of identification of pupils who qualify for free school meals. However, one or two of our respondents noted that some schools have taken a pro-active stance in helping identify those who are eligible for free school meals. Some other respondents noted that while many schools simply would not have the resources to become pro-actively involved in identifying eligible pupils, that the schools are in more of an ideal situation to be able to approach parents or pupils and provide them with information.

3.2.2 Identification via school clothing grant applications

While those eligible for free school meals generally also qualify for a school clothing grant, the reverse is not true and many qualifying for a school clothing grant are not also eligible for free school meals. It is also important to note that the local authorities themselves are responsible for setting the criteria for clothing grants while the criteria for free school meals are set in legislation.

In order to help in identifying those who are eligible for free school meals, some local authority staff, when an application is made for a school clothing grant, will ask questions to ascertain whether or not an individual is also eligible for free school meals.

An example taken from one local authority is that to qualify for a clothing grant they will accept one of the following:

• Council Tax Rebate
• Housing Benefit
• Child Tax Credit
• Income Based Job Seekers Allowance
• Working Tax Credit
• Income Support

It is stipulated on the application form that if the applicant is receiving one of the above benefits shown in italics (Income Support/ Income Based Jobseekers Allowance/ Child Tax Credit with income limit of £14,155) then their child/ children may also qualify for free school meals.

As such, some local authorities have combined the application form for school clothing grants with that for free school meals to enable applicants to ascertain their own eligibility for both clothing grants and free school meals. The processing for both grants is then undertaken in the same processing office.

3.2.3 Identification via housing benefits

The qualitative interviews showed that many individuals in receipt of housing benefit and/ or council tax benefit will not qualify for free school meals, generally because they are in receipt of working tax credit. However, because housing benefits are provided by the local authority and not the Department of Work & Pensions ( DWP), some local authorities have set up systems to enable them to liaise with the housing benefit department in their area. Under the Data Protection Act, most are not allowed direct access to information and so are reliant on housing benefit officers to find the time to provide information on who is in receipt of housing benefit and who may thus be a potential applicant for free school meals. One or two local authorities also noted that when an individual applies for housing benefit, their housing benefit officer will verify whether or not they qualify for free school meals and then provide application forms and/ or give this information to the free school meals team.

Almost all of the respondents we spoke to queried why receipt of working tax credits negates eligibility for free school meals and some noted that many individuals on working tax credits may have an annual income well below the threshold of £14,155. Similarly, there were comments that there were some categories of other potential recipients such as grandparents with permanent responsibility for grandchildren or students in full time education who are also parents but who do not qualify for free school meals due to the set criteria. In fact, in relation to grandparents specifically, those in receipt of Pension Credit may also be eligible for Child Tax Credit and they would be eligible for free school meals via Child Tax Credit criterion, although Pension Credit alone does not offer eligibility for free school meals. From the interviews we carried out, those local authorities offering free school meals to grandparents on Pension Credit did not make clear if they were granting this on Pension Credit alone or if they went through the process of having the grandparent apply for Child Tax Credit.

3.2.4 Identification via DWP

Almost all respondents participating in the qualitative discussions had given consideration to the sharing of information between different government departments in order to help identify pupils eligible for free school meals. While all noted that information held by the DWP would be a very valuable source to help identify those who may be eligible for free school meals, due to restrictions placed upon them by the Data Protection Act, it is not possible to share information held by the DWP.

A small number of local authorities noted that some job centre staff will provide information about free school meals to those applying for, or in receipt of, other benefits but this is done on an informal basis and there is no formal agreement for the DWP to help identify eligible pupils.

Across all the local authorities, it was recognised that if data protection were not an issue, it would be possible to liaise with the DWP in order to share information. Having a system in place whereby local authorities could have access to the benefits system was mentioned by many of our respondents. Others simply referred to the need to share information across all benefits agencies, job centres and so on. One or two of our respondents had set up systems for sharing information.

Access to the benefits system is not a foolproof means of capturing all those in a specific area who may be eligible for free school meals. For example, children attending schools in one local authority area but living in another would not have their details flagged up to the authority in which the child attends school. However, access to the benefits system was perceived by all of our respondents to be a primary means by which likely candidates for free school meals could be identified and targeted with information on eligibility criteria and details of how to apply.

In summary, almost all of the local authorities work to the criteria set by the Scottish Executive and use these as the basis for determining eligibility for free school meals, though some inconsistencies do exist and some local authorities do not update their guidance to reflect changes in the criteria.

Given the difficulties of identifying those who are eligible for free school meals, most local authorities have adopted a reactive, rather than pro-active stance for identification. Information is provided to potential applicants but it is then left to individuals to come forward and apply for free school meals. Across the local authorities, there is no formal means by which those entitled to free school meals can be identified. This means that annual figures provided to the Scottish Executive are only indicative of the true number of eligible pupils.

Whilst acknowledging the difficulties of identifying those who may be entitled to free school meals, many local authorities have attempted to utilise a range of different techniques and approaches to overcome this problem.

In an ideal world, all local authorities would like to be able to share information with other local authority and government departments in order to try and identify all those who may be entitled to school meals.

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