Financial & Employment SUpport

You are eligible for free nursery/school meals and a school clothing grant if you receive the following benefits: 

• Income Support 

• Universal Credit with an annual income of £8320 or less

• Jobseekers Allowance (income based)

• Pension Credit

• Employment and Support Allowance (income related)

• Working Tax Credit with income less than £9830 

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

You are eligible for a school clothing grant only if you receive:

• Housing and/or Council Tax Benefit

• Working Tax Credit with a gross annual income of £16,860.

You are eligible for free nursery/school meals only if you receive:

• Child Tax Credit ONLY (but not Working Tax Credit) with income less than £17,500.

or young children who are:

• Looked after by the authority concerned or any local authority; or,

• The subject of a kinship care order or a child falling within section 71(3)(f) of the Act (referred to here as a child having a parent appointed guardian). 

School Clothing Grants will not be paid for children of school leaving age, that is who will be 16 years old between 1 March and 30 September, until they return to school in the new session. However, you should include these children on your application.

The School Clothing Grant is currently £150.00 per child.

Whilst the Best Start grants do not apply to secondary school aged young people, we are fully aware that there may be younger children living at home. 

The Best Start grants, have similar criteria (see below) to the Free School Meal and Clothing Grants and apply to pregnant mothers and families with children 3 and under. There are 3 different types of cash grants available, depending on the age of your young child (beyond week 24 in pregnancy).

Criteria:

If you're under 18, you do not need to be on any payments or benefits to apply for Best Start Grant or Best Start Foods.

If you're a parent over 18, you can apply whether you're in work or not, as long as you're getting one of these:

• Universal Credit

• Child Tax Credit

• Working Tax Credit

• Housing Benefit

• Income Support

• Pension Credit

• Income-based Jobseekers Allowance (JSA)

• Income-related Employment and Support Allowance (ESA)

You cannot get Best Start Grant or Best Start Foods if you only get Child Benefit. You must still be getting one of the benefits or payments from this list to be able to get Best Start Grant or Best Start Foods.

If you're not getting any of these benefits or payments, but have applied for one, you can still apply for Best Start Grant and Best Start Foods.

For Best Start Grant, we do not need to know about your income. For Best Start Foods, some of the benefits have an income limit.

The benefits you need to be on to get Best Start Food are the same as Best Start Grant, but some of the benefits have an income limit.

The benefits that have an income limit are:

• Universal Credit – if you or your partner have a job, your joint income from working must be less than £610 a month, after tax and National Insurance – Universal Credit payments are not counted as part of this

• Child Tax Credit, if you're not getting Working Tax Credit – you and your partner's joint income from working must be less than £16,190 per year

• Child Tax Credit and Working Tax Credit - your income from working must be less than £7,320 per year

• Housing Benefit – you and your partner's joint income from working must be less than £311 a week

Should you require any support in applying for any of the above grants, please feel free to contact our team on 0743 272 1022 or s&fehub@west-dunbarton.gov.uk. 

Alternatively, contact the school office to speak with your child's Pupil Support Leader.