Wrexham and Pembrokeshire Councils boost Free School Meals and School Essentials Grant take up with two data-led approaches

Barriers to claiming Free School Meals (FSM) and the School Essentials Grant (SEG) in Wales are characterised by a two-tier confusion. While primary school meals are now universal, the additional financial support for schools still requires a separate, means-tested application, leading to significant hidden barriers. The Welsh and UK Government have announced further changes to Free School Meals eligibility from September 2026, which further demonstrates the need for a data-driven approach to mitigate barriers to applying:

1. Lack of awareness of the need to apply

Since the full rollout of Universal Primary Free School Meals (UPFSM) in September 2024, the biggest barrier to take-up is a lack of awareness.

• The assumption: Many parents believe that because their child receives a free meal automatically, they are “registered.”
• The reality: They must still apply for eligible Free School Meals (eFSM) to unlock the School Essentials Grant (worth up to £200).
• The school impact: Schools receive the Pupil Development Grant (PDG) based on eFSM registrations. When parents don’t register, schools lose vital funding for support staff and resources.
  Many residents with children in secondary school are also not aware of their eligibility and miss out on Free School Meals and the School Essentials grant.

2. Fragmented application process

Despite efforts to streamline Welsh benefits, the application process remains fragmented.

• Complex application: Application processes vary by local authority. Some have moved to “automatic” awards by cross-referencing housing benefit data, but many still require manual online forms that can be difficult to navigate on mobile phones or for those with limited digital literacy.
• Deadlines: The School Essentials Grant for the 2025/26 academic year closed on 31 May 2026. Families who missed this window wouldn’t get the award in time for the new school year, and cannot backdate claims, even if their financial situation worsened mid-year.

The Pembrokeshire approach (opt-in)

1. Information Governance – Free School Meals is included in the Data Processing Agreement between Pembrokeshire CC and Policy in Practice.
2. School Census (PLASC) match – Pembrokeshire CC shared their School Census data with Policy in Practice, who matched it to the LIFT benefits data sets to flag pupils who were eligible for but not claiming Free School Meals. This was done twice: the first match was in December, and the second match was in March to catch any newly eligible pupils (e.g. staggered entry reception age households), and families who had not yet applied.
3. Letters to eligible households – A letter was sent to eligible households, encouraging them to apply for the School Essentials Grant via a link. The letter also explained to residents that to receive the cash payment, they must be recorded as eFSM (means tested free school meals) eligible, which is different from the ‘Universal Free School Meal’ scheme whereby all Primary age children in Pembrokeshire receive a free school lunch. This clear call to action clarified any confusion and encouraged people to apply.

The Wrexham approach (auto-enrolment)

1. Access to data – In Wrexham CBC, the Revenues and Benefits team has access to pupil level free school data (Synergy education system), and the benefits data sets. Officers meet regularly with their Management Information System (MIS) team in education to discuss maximising Free School Meals take-up.
2. Information Governance – A DWP data re-use request was updated, signed off by Wrexham’s Data Protection Officer (DPO) and sent to DWP. The DPIA was updated explaining the rationale for the campaign.
3. The data match – Whilst some basic matching with CTR data had been tried in the past. Officers had found that there was only a small number of eligible households not already claiming. Using Policy in Practice to match LIFT data sets to pupil claims data allowed more students to be identified as eligible and not claiming.
4. Further eligibility checks – Matched households were passed through the Department for Education’s Eligibility Checking System (ECS). This filtered out households that had a live claim, or where the situation may have changed making them ineligible.
5. Opt out email to parents – All remaining households were sent an email to advise them that the council had identified that their child/children were eligible for Free School Meals. It proposed to automatically enroll the children unless they chose not to take part within the next 7 days. No-one opted out of the campaign. The email finally directed them to a School Essentials Grant application form to provide bank details.

By using LIFT, both Pembrokeshire and Wrexham were able to track the results of their targeted outreach and auto-enrolment. Below is the impact of their campaigns:

Pembrokeshire Results

Phase 1 – December 2025

• 217: eligible households contacted
• 87: new claims for Free School Meals and School Essentials Grant
  • £39,950: annual value generated for pupils and their families
  • £100,050: in Pupil Development Grant generated for schools
• £501,000: total lifetime value for the 21 Reception age cases in this campaign

Phase 2 – April 2026

• 179: eligible households contacted
• 48: new claims for Free School Meals and School Essentials Grant
  • £30,625: annual value generated for pupils and their families
  • £55,200: for local schools
• £192,000: total lifetime value for the 8 Reception cases in this campaign

The previous May, only 18 applications were made; such a significant increase (270%) can reasonably be attributed to the campaign communications.

Wrexham Results – January 2026

• 104 pupils auto-enrolled into Free School Meals
  • Annual value: £67,184
  • Lifetime value: £522,462
• 25 applications for the School Essentials Grant
  • Annual value: £3,125
• Pupil Development Grant value generated
  • Annual value: £199,600
  • Lifetime value: £1,008,550

1. Running FSM and SEG campaigns positively impacts pupils, parents and schools: Pembrokeshire and Wrexham have shown that both opt-in and auto-enrolment campaigns using LIFT, increase take up of Free School Meals, the School Essentials Grant, and generate Pupil Development Grant revenue for schools.
2. Auto-enrolment is possible in Wales: Wrexham were the first local authority in Wales to match LIFT data to pupil level education data and auto-enroll students to FSM. This removed barriers to applying such as a lack of awareness amongst families, and complex application forms. Other Welsh local authorities can test auto-enrolling pupils to FSM like Wrexham and councils in England such as Lambeth Council.
3. Stronger outcomes through partnership: Working with Policy in Practice to complete the match the benefits data sets with education datasets saved officers time from data matching to engagement with residents. Pembrokeshire and Wrexham Councils have shared template communications including Welsh translations to help other local authorities replicate the success of their campaigns.