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Statutory Instruments

2026 No. 706

EDUCATION, ENGLAND

The Education (Free School Lunches in Maintained Nursery Schools) (Universal Credit) (England) Order 2026

Made

29th June 2026

Laid before Parliament

1st July 2026

Coming into force

17th August 2026

The Secretary of State makes this Order in exercise of the powers conferred by section 512ZB(4B)(a) of the Education Act 1996(1).

Citation, commencement and extent

1.—(1) This Order may be cited as the Education (Free School Lunches in Maintained Nursery Schools) (Universal Credit) (England) Order 2026.

(2) This Order comes into force on 17th August 2026.

(3) This Order extends to England and Wales.

Interpretation

2. In this Order “ the 1996 Act ” means the Education Act 1996 .

Persons to be treated as within section 512ZB(4A) of the 1996 Act

3. A registered pupil at a maintained nursery school(2) in England is to be treated as a person within section 512ZB(4A) of the 1996 Act (provision of free school lunches and milk) if—

(a)their parent is in receipt of universal credit, and

(b)they are not within section 512ZB(4) of the 1996 Act(3).

Olivia Bailey

Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State

Department for Education

29th June 2026

(1)

1996 c. 56. Section 512ZB was inserted by section 201(1) of the Education Act 2002 (c. 32). Section 512ZB(4B) was inserted by section 106(2)(b) of the Children and Families Act 2014 (c. 6).

(2)

Section 579 of the Education Act 1996 defines “maintained nursery school” by reference to the definition in section 22(9) of the School Standards and Framework Act 1998 (c. 31).

(3)

Relevant amendments to section 512ZB(4) were made by paragraph 16(3) of Schedule 3 to the Welfare Reform Act 2007 (c. 5), section 26(1) of the Life Chances Act 2010 (c. 9) (which was previously referred to as the Child Poverty Act 2010) and paragraph 39 of Schedule 2 and Part 1 of Schedule 14 to the Welfare Reform Act 2012 (c. 5). Section 512ZB(4) is prospectively amended by Part 1 of Schedule 7 to the Welfare Reform Act 2009 (c. 24) from a day to be appointed.

Status: This is the original version (as it was originally made). This item of legislation is currently only available in its original format.
The Education (Free School Lunches in Maintained Nursery Schools) (Universal Credit) (England) Order 2026 (2026/706)
Version from: original only

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