Below is a message from City of Edinburgh Council regarding free school meal payments for school holidays.

Scottish Government announced additional funding for Free School Meals for Local Authorities last week.

As a result, a Free School Meals payment of £13.50 per child will be made to all eligible families for the October holiday.

Free School Meals payments will also be made for the Christmas, February and Easter holidays.

We have identified 934 children that are entitled to Free School Meals, but we do not hold bank/payment details. We will be issuing a letter to these parents today with a link to an online form, so they can provide their bank/payment details. This link will only be sent to parents who are already in receipt of Free School Meals.

As with the previous Free School Meals payments over the school closures/summer holidays, children in P1 to P3 are not automatically entitled to free School Meals even though they receive Free School Meals under Scottish Government legislation. In order to get the Free School Meals holiday payments, they must have received a Clothing Grant/or have an income-based entitlement to Free School Meals for the current term (2020/21).

If a parent/carer applied for Free School Meals before the October holidays and haven’t been awarded Free School Meals yet, we will automatically consider their entitlement to payments during the October break when we process their application. Parents/carers do not need to contact us about this separately.

If a parent/carer was not getting Free School Meals and haven’t applied, they must apply on or before 30/11/20 using our online form (https://www.edinburgh.gov.uk/xfp/form/221) so we can work out if they are entitled to the payments.

Parents/carers can continue to apply for Free School Meals/Clothing Grant after 30/11/20 but they will not get the October holiday payment.