Chamber and committees

There are no plans to review home educated pupils' entitlement to free school meals at present. Free school meals are not normally provided for children and young people whose parents have chosen to home educate them, as the local authority is not responsible for providing their education. Free school meals would only be provided to children and young people who are not receiving their education at a local authority run school if they had entered into an agreement to do so through their local authority. The Scottish Government is not normally made aware of these arrangements.

Local authorities have the flexibility to make discretionary offers of free school meals to families experiencing financial hardship due to exceptional circumstances if they do not meet the regular eligibility criteria. We would urge any families who are home educating their children and experiencing financial hardship to contact their local authority to enquire about what alternative forms of assistance might be available to them.

Families can also access Money Talk Team, a free service provided by Citizen’s Advice on behalf of the Scottish Government that helps to ensure that families are receiving all available benefits and are not paying more than is required for services. More information about this service can be found online at https://moneytalkteam.org.uk/ or by calling their free phone helpline on 0800 085 7145.