Free meals in further education guide

ThisThe guideguidance is departmental advice from the Department for Education (DfE).

The) guide sets out the funding rules for free meals and forms part of institutions’ DfE funding agreements.

It The guide is intended to help further education funded institutions understand their obligation to provide free meals to disadvantaged students. Institutions must comply with the rules and be able to show they comply at any audit.

Alongside the guidance, we have provided a model communication for further education settings to tell students about free meal changes for the 2026 to 2027 academic year.