Universal Free School Meals (UFSM)

Universal Free School Meals is an initiative provided at government or regional level to ensure that qualifying pupils are provided with free, nutritious meal.  These are typically key stage 1 pupils but can include nursery or KS2 groups in some regions.

  This article will show you...

...how UFSM is configured within ParentPay.

Universal Free School Meals (UFSM) variants

  • Universal Infant Free School Meals (UIFSM) is commonly used in England and Scotland
  • Universal Primary Free School Meals (UPFSM) is commonly used in Wales
  • Key Stage 2 London Free School Meals (LFSM) is used for the extra provision within the City of London.

Regardless of the name, the function, and how it is configured and used in ParentPay remains the same.

UFSM allowance value

The value of the allowance is set by the local or national government, or individual region and is set at a fixed value for all year groups that it applies to. These values can be overridden per year group if required allowing you to provide meals that are above the base allowance, and still make them free to parents by absorbing the additional cost within your school.

Qualifying children are defined by year group, commonly Reception, Year 1, and Year 2 but in some cases, this may extend to Nursery or Years 3-6.

INFO

For the currently set UFSM allowance value, please refer to the government or regional guidance for your schools location.

How is this different from Free School Meals (FSM)?

  • FSM allowances are assigned individually to qualifying children. To gain this benefit the parents or guardian must apply to the appropriate government body be approved. They can often then benefit from additional subsidies such as pupil premium.
    You can find the appropriate governing body by searching for 'Free School Meals' and choosing the region the child attends school.
  • UFSM is a universal allowance that is given to all children regardless of their financial situation.  It is assigned by year groups and is set at a local or national government level or by a regional or district body.

IMPORTANT

FSM allowances will supersede UFSM entitlement automatically, once configured for a pupil, ensuring pupils receive the maximum benefit and that reporting is easily managed.

How is UFSM set up?

Basic setup

There are two areas that need to be considered when setting up UFSM within ParentPay:

  • Schools using an included (basic) ParentPay meal solution
    • KS1 year groups (R, 1 & 2) are automatically set at the appropriate allowance value.
    • No further action is required unless you need to make amendments to specific allowance values or wish to disable the allowance for your school.
  • Schools using an advanced meal solution, such as Cypad Meal Manager or a cashless till

Region specific setup

Scotland
  • Schools using an included (basic) ParentPay meal solution
    • All additional primary phase year groups (3-6) are included automatically (regional exclusions may apply).
    • If the values are changed by the government, the system will be automatically updated.
London

In addition to the national allowance set for England, the City of London has extended this provision to include key stage 2 pupils. This is currently a temporary measure and may revert to KS1 only in the future.

  • Schools using an included (basic) ParentPay meal solution
    • All additional primary phase year groups (3-6) are included automatically.
    • If the values are changed by the government, the system will be automatically updated.
Wales
  • Schools using an included (basic) ParentPay meal solution
    • Schools are initially configured with only the Reception (R) year group..
    • All others year groups are disabled by default. 
    • Additional year groups can be added and configured using the Changing the UFSM allowance link below.

 

How to change the UFSM allowance

To make changes to the basic setup, or to configure an advanced setup, see the article How to change the UFSM allowance.

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