Am I eligible for universal free school meals (UIFSM)?:
All pupils in reception, year 1 and year 2 (key stage 1) are entitled to receive a tasty and nutritious school lunch, through the introduction of the government's universal infant free school meals (UIFSM) policy. When registering your child for online ordering please remember to tick the box "Eligible for free school meals or Universal Meal Credits" on the registration form.
Am I eligible for free school meals (FSM)?
Your child might be able to get free school meals if you get any of the following:
- Income Support
- income-based Jobseeker's Allowance
- income-related Employment and Support Allowance
- support under Part VI of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999
- the guaranteed element of Pension Credit
- Child Tax Credit (provided you're not also entitled to Working Tax Credit and have an annual gross income of no more than £16,190)
- Working Tax Credit run-on - paid for 4 weeks after you stop qualifying for Working Tax Credit
- Universal Credit
Please contact your school directly who will be able to help with the process.
What do I do if my child is sick?
You will not be charged for your meal if your child is sick. The school should let us know all absences by the end of the week. If you can see on your account, by Monday of the following week, that you have still be charged for the meal please get in touch using the contact us form and we can organise a credit to be added to your account.
How do I cancel a meal?
For any cancellations in the current week please use the contact us form and a member of our team will be able to cancel the meal for you. For any future weeks you are able to cancel the meals via your account. Please log into your account and unselect the meal by clicking on the circle under the column "N" as shown in the image below.
When's the cut off for my order?
All orders for the following week must be placed on the system on Friday at midnight. If you are a parent that pays for their meals, payment for the following week's meals must also be made by Friday at midnight. If there are insufficient funds on your account you will be sent a top up reminder email Monday to Thursday each week, if no payment is received meals will be cancelled on Friday at midnight.
Can I order a meal on the day?
Unfortunately we cannot accept any orders after the cut-off point. As all of the meals are cooked fresh, our Catering Managers need enough time to order in the ingredients for the meals.
I can't login what shall I do?
If you have forgotten your login/password please click on the &qupt;forgot your password?" link on the homepage and you can be emailed a username/password remainder. Alternatively please use the contact us form and a member of our team will be able to help.
I've forgotten my password
Please click on the "forgot your password?" link on the homepage and you can be emailed a temporary password. Alternatively please use the contact us form and a member of our team will be able to help.
I've moved do I need to let you know?
Please use the contact us form and a member of our team will be able to update your address. It's important you let us know as otherwise this can cause issues when you are trying to process a payment via SagePay.
How do I get in contact with the Chef producing the meals?
Please use the contact us form and a member of our team will be able to put you in contact with our Chef.
Do I have to order meals for the entire week?
No you do not need to order meals for the entire week if you do not want to. Our ordering system is flexible that it allows you to order meals just when you want them rather than having to order for a full month or term.
Why haven't I received an email confirmation?
We have recently made some changes to our website so that you aren't automatically emailed your confirmation anymore; however if you would still like an order confirmation just click on ‘Email my selection' at the top of the page. This will send you a summary of all of the meals ordered for each day to your registered email address. Please remember to check your junk folder if you do not receive confirmation.
I'm eligible for universal free school meals but I'm being charged for my meals what should I do?
Please use the contact us form and a member of our team will be able to correct this for you.
I'm eligible for free school meals but I'm being charged for my meals what should I do?
Please contact the school who will notify us that your child is eligible for free school meals. We will need the schools confirmation before we can make any changes to the system.
Online payment types accepted
We accept the following card types:
Recurring payments / automatic top-ups
There may be times when you have meals ordered for next week, but you have insufficient balance to pay for them. If you fail to top-up by the deadline, and would be happy for us to automatically bill your card to cover the following weeks meals you can put a tick in the "Auto" column (to enable "Auto" top-ups from that card. This makes the card enabled for "Recurring Payments". At the cut-off time we will try each of your enabled cards in turn to try and clear the outstanding balance for the following weeks meals. Only when we cannot take the funds will we resort to cancelling your childs meals.
To make everyone's lives easier and to save you logging on every week to pay for meals, we have introduced recurring payments/automatic top ups. Where you have saved a credit or debit card for payment you can select a tick box to authorise a recurring payment/auto top up. This means if you have any meals ordered for the following week and have not paid for your meals by Saturday midnight we will automatically deduct the funds needed for the following one weeks worth of meals. This will give you peace of mind your meals have been paid for the following week and they do no risk being cancelled. You can switch the recurring payment / auto top up function off at anytime by unchecking the tick box in your child’s accounts. If you have any questions or have had a recurring payment or auto top occur that you would like to reverse please contact primary@innovatefood.co.uk