The legislation / guidance seems to state that free school meals only apply in very prescriptive circumstances:

if the parent/guardian/student is in receipt of a qualifying benefit, these are:-

Income Support,
Income Based Job Seekers Allowance,
Child Tax Credit, as long as Working Tax Credit is not received and the family income as assessed by HM Revenue & Customs is less than £15,575,
The Guaranteed Element of Pension Credit
Support under part VI of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999

This means that 16 / 17 year old care leavers are missing out as instead of receiving any of the above assistance, they are in fact receiving a personal allowance from the SSD. With other passported benefits, there is a form (HC1) that can be used for these young people to access free prescriptions, dental care etc, but not for free school meals.

Is there any way around this?

Many thanks

lisa

Yes, section 512 of The Education Act 2002 does not allow any discretion other than the qualifying benefit route. However, the policy behind the care leavers' legislation was about balancing responsibilty for expediture between central government and local authorities. It was not designed to produce winners and losers.

In such a situation the LA should meet the extra expenditure (if they are not already doing so), so that every young person is in an equal position. Otherwise, either the LA or the regulations would be subject to legal challenge (in my view) on grounds of discrimination.