Pupil Premium

Pupil premium is funding to improve education outcomes for disadvantaged pupils in schools in England.  Evidence shows that disadvantaged children generally face additional challenges in reaching their potential at school and often do not perform as well as other pupils.

Funding rates for the 2025 to 2026 financial year

This table shows how much pupil premium funding schools and local authorities receive for each eligible child.

Service Pupil Premium

Service pupil premium is additional funding for schools with children and young people of service families.

Pupils in state-funded schools in England attract the service pupil premium grant, at the rate of:

• £350 per eligible pupil in the 2025 to 2026 financial year

Pupils are eligible if they meet any of the following criteria:

• one of their parents is serving in the regular armed forces (including pupils with a parent who is on full commitment as part of the full-time reserve service) or is in the armed forces of another nation and is stationed in England and they have been registered as a ‘service child’ in the most recent autumn DfE school census
• they do not currently have ‘service child’ status but they have been registered as a ‘service child’ on any DfE school census in the past 6 years
• one of their parents died whilst serving in the armed forces and the pupil receives a pension under the Armed Forces Compensation Scheme or the War Pensions Scheme

This funding is primarily to enable schools to offer pastoral support and help mitigate the negative impact of family mobility or parental deployment. It can also be used to help improve the academic progress of eligible pupils if the school deems this to be a priority.

Free School Meals

If your child is not registered for Free School Meals and you receive any of the following benefits your child may be able to get free school meals:

• Income Support
• income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance
• income-related Employment and Support Allowance
• support under Part VI of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999
• the guaranteed element of Pension Credit
• Child Tax Credit (provided you’re not also entitled to Working Tax Credit and have an annual gross income of no more than £16,190)
• Working Tax Credit run-on - paid for 4 weeks after you stop qualifying for Working Tax Credit
• Universal Credit - if you apply on or after 1 April 2018 your household income must be less than £7,400 a year (after tax and not including any benefits you get)

Children who get paid these benefits directly, instead of through a parent or guardian, can also get free school meals.

Your child may also get free school meals if you get any of these benefits and your child is both:

• younger than the compulsory age for starting school
• in full-time education.

If your child is eligible for free school meals, they’ll remain eligible until they finish the phase of schooling (primary or secondary) they’re in on 31 March 2022.

For further information and to check your eligibility go to:

https://www.leicestershire.gov.uk/education-and-children/social-care-and-supporting-families/free-school-meals