Parents should apply now for free school meals and uniform allowance
The Education Authority has issued the advice so that support is guaranteed for the new school year.
The Education Authority is urging parents to apply for free school meals and uniform allowance before the 28th of July.
This is to ensure that applications are processed, and the support is in place for the new school term.
Families can apply if their child or children are in full time education and they receive income support, income-based jobseeker’s allowance, income related employment and support allowance, a guarantee element of state pension credit, universal credit, child tax credit or working tax credit.
As well as this, parents can apply if their child has special educational needs and requires a special diet or is an asylum seeker supported by the Home Office Asylum Support Assessment Team (ASAT).
The website will ask applicants to create an account where they can return to check their progress. When applying, relevant supporting evidence must be provided.
If the correct information is not uploaded with the application the Education Authority will be in touch via email.
Previous recipients of free school meals and uniform allowance must re-apply online for the 2023/2024 school year providing the relevant supporting evidence.
Peter Canavan the Head of Admissions and Financial Support says, ‘We have currently received 33 thousand applications, so we’re about 15 thousand applications off a normal school year. So, if you miss the 28th of July, we’re not saying that it won’t be in place, we’re saying there is no guarantee of it being in place for the start of the new school year”.
Due to circumstances changing, applicants can apply at any time of the school year.
Alongside the website and helpdesk, digital clinics providing technical support to applications are running throughout July and August in Library NI sites across Northern Ireland as part of a partnership between the Education Authority and ‘Go ON NI’.
With upcoming clinics taking place in Armagh, Enniskillen, Coleraine, Suffolk and Ballycastle library.