Schools transactions update 11 October 2021
Read the latest updates on free school meals and education maintenance allowances, plus info on the government’s Tax Free Childcare scheme.
Application forms
We’ve received some enquiries about the availability of hard copies of our application forms. PDF templates were previously available to print out, but we are shifting away from this.
Our FSMCG and EMA online application forms for 2021-22 were updated with a new section which can be filled in if the form is being completed by someone else on behalf of the applicant. This could be a support worker, social worker or member of school staff. We hope this will make it easier for parents to apply if they have difficulties accessing or filling in online forms.
Free school meals payments
The Scottish Government has confirmed that parents who have an income-based entitlement to free school meals would continue to receive payments towards the cost of lunches during school holidays. Parents will receive these payments for children in P1-P4 only if they have an income-based entitlement i.e. those who are approved FSM on SEEMiS – it is not a universal payment for all children in P1-P4.
The Scottish Government also announced Scottish Child Bridging Payments will be made to families of children and young people of school age (P1-S6 education) in receipt of Free School Meals based on low-income eligibility criteria.
Payments are made if the child currently receives income-based free school meals – so they do not need to apply for it. We use the same details we used to pay their clothing grant. However, some have not yet provided payment details, so we have written to these parents to request these.
The Autumn 2021 payment will be £175 per child. This payment includes
- a £15 October holiday Free School Meals payment, and
- a £160 Autumn Bridging Payment.
Most payments have been made today (11 October) and will be complete by 15 October.
Parents can still apply, and if they do so before 15 October, they will receive the October holiday payment.
More info is on our web page www.edinburgh.gov.uk/schoolgrants and on the Scottish Government’s web site www.mygov.scot/school-meals.
For help on viewing your free school meal entitlement list on SEEMiS, click here to download the FSM help sheet.
Education maintenance allowances
The first batch of successful students were notified by email on Friday and over 80 learning agreements have been received already. The process has been improved with the introduction of an online learning agreement form, so there is no longer a need to print out and sign this.
Additional resources are being put in place to help process the oldest applications. All applications received up to and including 30 September will be eligible to receive payments backdated to the start of term - students will not lose out.
The attendance confirmation procedure for schools will remain the same as developed last year. We will ask you to confirm the awarded pupils each week by completing a spreadsheet. This will contain details of awarded pupils and it will be emailed every week. You need to confirm the pupils are undertaking at least 21 hours guided learning and therefore eligible for EMA payments.
The first spreadsheet will be emailed out to schools on 11 October. We are hoping to have as many completed as possible by the end of this week so they can be included in next week’s pay run.
We’ve posted an update for students on our web page www.edinburgh.gov.uk/ema.
Tax Free Childcare (TFC)
HM Revenue & Customs recently announced support for childcare costs. Families may be eligible for Tax-Free Childcare to help pay for breakfast and after school clubs as children go back to school. Families are eligible to save money on their childcare and benefit from a government top-up worth up to £2,000 every year, or up to £4,000 a year if a child is disabled. In June 2021, about 308,000 families across the UK benefited from using Tax-Free Childcare, but thousands are missing out on this opportunity.
Click here to read more about the scheme.
Next update
We’ll send a further update before the end of October when the P1 and S1 admission procedures begin.