Is this fraud & should I report it?

Mojisola

Schools are following the DofE advice -
https://www.education.gov.uk/b00200056/increasing-registrations-for-free-school-meals-and-the-pupil-premium

To ensure your school doesn’t miss out on additional funding to which you are entitled, you should encourage parents to register their child as eligible for FSM in time for the school census. The local authority will be able to tell you the last date applications can be submitted in time for them to confirm eligibility with you before census day.

There are good practices schools can implement to registration. In particular, schools should consider letting parents know:

That registering their child as eligible for FSM will bring more money to the school to help their child achieve.
What the school will spend the Pupil Premium on, so they are incentivised to apply.
What, if any, other benefits may be available for children registered as eligible for FSM, i.e. help with the cost of music lessons or school trips.
That registering for FSM is confidential and their peers, and their child’s peers, will not know they have applied.
What registering for FSM involves and what it means for their child, including the fact that taking up the meal is recommended but optional.

missapril75

Some people in the know have posted differing experience on this issue so it appears some education depts approach it differently.

If the funding depends on eligibility for FSM and that eligibility depends on other qualifying conditions, then why not focus on those qualifying conditions instead?

Why generate unnecessary applications for something that isn't taken.

The process involved in FSM applications includes verifying the existence of the qualifying condition (I/S JSA(IB etc) so why not simply verify its existence instead of dealing with a FSM application. It's quicker. Less admin all round.

Naf

missapril75 wrote: »

So it IS something to do with free school meals then.

Eligibility (whether the nosh available is taken or not) is the important factor.

Sorry, that was poorly worded; the PP for the school has the same eligibility criteria, but my impression was they are not directly related;
However this suggests otherwise (sort of);

Mojisola wrote: »

Schools are following the DofE advice -
https://www.education.gov.uk/b00200056/increasing-registrations-for-free-school-meals-and-the-pupil-premium

To ensure your school doesn’t miss out on additional funding to which you are entitled, you should encourage parents to register their child as eligible for FSM in time for the school census. The local authority will be able to tell you the last date applications can be submitted in time for them to confirm eligibility with you before census day.

There are good practices schools can implement to registration. In particular, schools should consider letting parents know:

That registering their child as eligible for FSM will bring more money to the school to help their child achieve.
What the school will spend the Pupil Premium on, so they are incentivised to apply.
What, if any, other benefits may be available for children registered as eligible for FSM, i.e. help with the cost of music lessons or school trips.
That registering for FSM is confidential and their peers, and their child’s peers, will not know they have applied.
What registering for FSM involves and what it means for their child, including the fact that taking up the meal is recommended but optional.

Amazed that this is official recommendation; but that answers my question much better than anything else has. Still seems odd to me, but there you have it.

clearingout

Naf wrote: »

I KNOW!!

But this pupil premium is not what the parents are claiming to pay for their childrens' meals.
The school is entitled to the PP regardless of whether the child has a school meal or not; BUT THE PARENTS ARE ONLY ENTITLED TO CLAIM FREE SCHOOL MEALS IF THE CHILD IS HAVING A SCHOOL MEAL.
I really don't understand what it is that you're not grasping abot my question!

It is the eligibility for the free school meals that gets the school the pupil premium. Therefore, the school is asking that you let the local authority know you are entitled so that you are added to the list and the school gets the premium. I would assume that most local councils are simply using the same person who administrates the free school meals to administrate the pupil premium. One bird killing the proverbial two stones. There is no suggestion that by making the phone call and providing the information the council needs, the school will also get the funding for your free school meals even if you're not eating them.

I think the letter is perhaps badly worded, as others have said. I have seen a few posts on here about this in the last couple of years and it does cause some confusion.