Guidance
Free meals in further education guide
Guidance to help provide free meals to disadvantaged 16 to 18 year old students in further education funded institutions.
Applies to England
Documents
Details
This guide 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. 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.
Updates to this page
Published 11 June 2025