Financial Support

Free school meals

Pupils are eligible for free school meals if their parents or carers receive one of the following benefits:

• Income Support

• Income-based Job Seeker’s Allowance

• Pension Credit (Guarantee Credits)

• Any income related element of Employment and Support Allowance

• Child Tax Credit, but not Working Tax Credit, with an income of less than £17,005

• Both Child Tax Credit and Working Tax Credit with an income of up to £7,920

• Support under Part VI of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999

• Universal Credit with a monthly earned income from your employer of not more than £610

• Universal Credit, with a single parent/carer working less than 16 hours per week with an annual earned income from employment of less than £17,005

• Universal Credit, with both parents/carers working less than 24 hours per week with an annual earned income from employment of less than £17,005
   

Pupils are eligible for free school meals in their own right if they are between 16-18 and fall into any of these categories.

All pupils in P1 to P5 receive free school meals when in school. 

Over the Christmas period, Free School Meal vouchers will be provided where families meet the Free School Meals eligibility criteria.  P1 to P3 pupils will be provided with Free School Meal Vouchers where the parents/carers receive the benefits shown above. 

Where a child is in P1 to P5 and parents meet the eligibility criteria above, the parent should apply for Free School Meals in order to receive vouchers during the holidays periods.

How to apply

You can apply for free school meals online. Before you apply online, you will need to set up an account. This is so you can track the progress of your application. You will need to provide evidence of the benefit/s that you receive. 

You must provide evidence of the qualifying benefit each year in September. If you stop claiming the benefits you must notify the school. If you receive a free school meal to which you are not entitled, you may be asked to pay the money back. 

Education Maintenance Allowances

An EMA is a payment of £30 per week, paid directly into your bank account if you stay on in school, college or in home education after your official school leaving date.

Education Maintenance Allowances (EMAs) are part of the Scottish Government's agenda of encouraging access to, and participation in, further and higher education by young people from low-income families. These allowances are financial support for 16-19 year olds who stay on in full time non-advanced education after their statutory school leaving date (i.e. those continuing in post-compulsory education).

Aberdeen City Council pay EMAs, on behalf of the Scottish Government, to eligible school students. 

To be eligible for an EMA in 2020/21 the student must:

• Have been born between 1 March 2001 and 28 February 2005

• Have a household income of £26,884 or below (for families with more than one dependent child in the household)* or

• Have a household income of £24,421 or below (for families with a single dependent child in the household).

• Be in full-time non-advanced education (up to SVQ level 3).

* Dependent children are all those up to the age of 16 and those over the age of 16 and up to the age of 25 if they are still in full-time education.

If you are an independent young person (i.e. receiving education while living in a foster home or children's home and are in the care of the local authority, or are living independently in receipt of Income Support or Contributions-Based Employment Support and Allowance), you are eligible for an EMA award without having to provide evidence of household income.

Following assessment of the application, weekly payments will be paid at £30.

Students become eligible for an EMA in August if they turn 16 between 1 March and 30 September and in January if they turn 16 between 1 October and end of February. Eligibility is reassessed each academic year.

• The start date of EMA payments is dependent on the date of your sixteenth birthday. If you are 16 on or before 30 September 2020 and we receive your application before 30 September 2020 we will pay your EMA from August 2020.

• If you are 16 between 1 October 2020 and 28 February 2021 and we receive your application before 28 February 2021 we will pay your EMA from January 2021.

• Applications received after the dates shown above will not be backdated. EMA will be paid from the start of the week in which we receive your application.

• Please note that the final date for all completed education maintenance allowance application forms is 31 March 2021. No application will be accepted or processed after this date

Note: The Scottish Ministers reserve the right to review the EMA programme at any time.

How to apply

You can apply for an education maintenance allowance online. Before you apply online, you will need to set up an account. This is so you can track the progress of your application.