Guidance

Universal infant free school meals (UIFSM): 2026 to 2027

Published allocations, conditions of grant and what the FSM expansion means for UIFSM funding for the 2026 to 2027 academic year.

• From: Department for Education
• Published: 15 June 2026
• Last updated: 24 September 2026
  Show all updates

  1. 24 September 2026

     Added 'Universal infant free school meals (UIFSM): provisional revenue funding allocations for the 2026 to 2027 academic year – new openers'.

  2. 25 June 2026

     Added 'Universal infant free school meals (UIFSM): provisional revenue allocations for the 2026 to 2027 academic year'.

  3. 15 June 2026

     First published.

Applies to England

Documents

Universal infant free school meals (UIFSM): conditions of grant 2026 to 2027

HTML

Universal infant free school meals (UIFSM): provisional revenue funding allocations for the 2026 to 2027 academic year – new openers

MS Excel Spreadsheet, 15.2 KB

Universal infant free school meals (UIFSM): provisional revenue allocations for the 2026 to 2027 academic year

MS Excel Spreadsheet, 4.99 MB

Universal infant free school meal (UIFSM): temporary funding adjustment in 2026 to 2027

HTML

Details

Universal infant free school meals (UIFSM) provides funding for all government-funded schools to offer free school meals to pupils in reception, year 1 and year 2. 

Schools and local authorities must follow the terms and conditions set out in the conditions of grant.

In the 2026 to 2027 academic year, a temporary adjustment to the provisional allocation of the UIFSM grant will be made. This will reflect the fact that some infants currently receiving UIFSM will become eligible for the new free school meals (FSM) entitlement and receive funding in respect of the new entitlement instead.