Free school meals

Free school lunches in primary 1 to 5

All children in primary 1 to 5, at schools run by their local council or funded by the Scottish Government, can get free school lunches during term-time.

Your financial circumstances do not matter.

Contact your local council or your child's school if your child is not getting free lunches at this age.

Children at independent schools and home-educated children are not entitled to free school lunches.

Contact your local council

Free school meals

Free school meals in primary 6 and 7

Your child can get free school meals if you get Scottish Child Payment or any of the other benefits listed in this section.

Your child can get free meals in school if you get:

Scottish Child Payment
Universal Credit (where your monthly earned income is not more than £995)
Pension Credit
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

Free school meals in secondary school

Your child can get free meals in school if you get:

Universal Credit (where your monthly earned income is not more than £995)
Pension Credit
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

16-18 year olds

If your child is 16-18 years old and receives any of the benefits in their own right, they can claim free school meals.

Free school lunches in special schools

Children who go to a special school run by their local council or are Scottish Government funded can get free school lunches during term-time.

Your child's age and your financial circumstances do not matter.

Contact your local council or your child’s school, if they're attending a special school and not getting free school lunches.

Free lunches if you're not getting benefits or Universal Credit

Your child might still get a free lunch in school, early learning or childcare if you're experiencing financial hardship. This could be because:

your immigration status means you cannot get help from the government
you're still waiting on your first Universal Credit notice

Contact your local council for more information.

If you get any of the benefits above, you'll be eligible to apply to your local council for help during the school holidays. You'll still need to apply for all your children even if they're in primary 1 to 5.

Free breakfasts for primary school children

Up to 20,000 children in primary school are currently benefitting from access to breakfast clubs as part of the Bright Start Breakfast Fund. The fund support 490 services in delivering food and supervision before school starts. This helps parents to get to work while also supporting children’s outcomes.

Contact your child’s school to see if their breakfast clubs is funded through Bright Start Breakfasts. You can also find out more at Inspiring Scotland, who manage the fund on behalf of Scottish Government.

From August 2027, free breakfast clubs will be available for all children in primary school across Scotland.

Free meals for children before they go to school

Children who are eligible for funded early learning and childcare can get a free meal on the days they go. This can be either breakfast, lunch or dinner.

You do not need to apply for the free meal. All children who get funded early learning and childcare will get a meal automatically.

You can get up to 1,140 hours of funded early learning and childcare a year for all 3 or 4 year old children and eligible 2 year olds.

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