Skip to main content

Universal Credit: Free School Meals and Health Start Scheme

Question for Department for Work and Pensions

UIN 47101, tabled on 22 April 2025

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of registering eligible households for (a) free school meal and (b) NHS Healthy Start entitlements through the Universal Credit system.

Answered on

29 April 2025

No such assessment has been made.

The Universal Credit system permits Department for Education to check eligibility for Free School Meals and Department of Health and Social Care to check a citizen’s entitlement to Healthy Start vouchers.