An uplift to the per-meal rate for Universal Infant Free School Meals (UIFSM) and Further Education free meals (FEFM) has been agreed and will be increased from £2.53 to £2.58 for 2024 to 2025, backdated to the start of the academic year. 

The Department has scheduled the payment for UIFSM to be delivered alongside the final allocation for 2024 to 2025 in June/July 2025. For FEFM, this will be delivered as an additional payment in February 2025, with the final one third payment for the academic year in April as usual.