Schools are being encouraged to get thousands of pounds of extra funding by helping children previously ineligible for free school meals (FSM) because of their parents’ immigration status to register before the next school census.
The government announced earlier this year that it was making permanent its extension of FSM eligibility to children from families with “no recourse to public funds”. These children previously did not qualify, even if their household income was below the threshold.
Schools receive up to £1,385 in pupil premium funding for every child who has been eligible for FSMs at any point in the past six years.
Leaders initially had to make a separate claim for the pupil premium for children with “no recourse to public funds”, but the process will be rolled into the school census from next month.
Citizens UK is encouraging schools to sign up eligible families before the census on January 19 and then record their status in their submission to the Department for Education.
