‘Free School Meals’ Price Promise

At Get My Grades, we know that sometimes families can experience difficult circumstances. We believe that learning should be accessible to everyone, even when times are hard and our aim is to ensure everyone can access our pioneering learning software, no matter their challenges.

So, students who are eligible for Free School Meals are eligible to access Get My Grades for a subsidised price. All families would need to provide is proof of eligibility each school year, to gain full access to all of the benefits. This information will be kept confidential between us, and your child will receive the same amazing service as all of our other students.

List of Proofs

Below is a list of proofs that are acceptable, as based on the government’s current guidelines for eligibility:

Income Support:

We need to see a letter from Jobcentre Plus, stating that the person is receiving Income Support. This letter should be dated within the last 8 weeks, and we will need to see all pages of the letter.

Income-Based Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA):

Please note, only those eligible for Income-Based Jobseeker’s Allowance are eligible for Free School Meals, those receiving Contribution Based Jobseeker’s Allowance are not eligible.
A four page letter from the Jobcentre Plus will be required, and as with Income Support, we will need to see all pages of the letter, which should be dated within the past 8 weeks.
We cannot accept the Jobseeker’s Attendance Card, as it does not specify whether the Allowance is Income or Contribution Based.

Income-Related Employment and Support Allowance (ESA):

Please note, only those receiving Income-Related ESA are eligible for Free School Meals.
We need to see all pages of a letter from Jobcentre Plus, stating that Income-Related Employment and Support Allowance is being received. This letter should be dated within the last 8 weeks.

Child Tax Credits

We will need to see a Tax Credit Award Notice, dated for the current financial year. This notice has the code TC602, and will be from Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs. As with other criteria, we will need to see all pages.
We will check specific details on this notice:
- You are currently receiving Child Tax Credit
- Your income is below the £16,190 threshold
- There is no ongoing entitlement to Working Tax Credit
If you have a joint claim (two people on the same Award Notice), income levels and tax credit elements will be applicable to both claimants, which includes Working Tax Credits.

Support Under Part VI of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999

As claimants will not yet have a National Insurance number, we will need to see a letter from the UK Border Agency which confirms eligibility for support. Claimants will however, have a National Asylum Seeker’s Service number. We will need to see this number, as well as your full name and date of birth.
Each year that you claim, we will need to see an up to date letter from the UK Border Agency, as well as your National Asylum Seeker’s Service Number, your full name and date of birth.
Once Asylum applications have be processed and a National Insurance number has been received, we ask that you provide alternative proof of eligibility, as this criteria will no longer be met.

Guarantee Element of State Pension Credit

We need to see a letter from the Department of Work and Pensions, dated within the past three months, which states that the claimant receives the Guarantee element.
We cannot accept Pension Credit Books, nor can we accept forms stamped by the Pension service, as neither of these confirm the type of Pension Credit received.

Universal Credit

Universal Tax Credits are replacing a number of other benefits, including those listed above. If you have been transferred onto Universal Tax Credits, we will need to see all pages of a letter confirming your current eligibility.

Terms and Conditions

1. These proofs (excluding Work Tax Credit Run-On) will grant you eligibility to our Free School Meals Promise price plan until the end of the school year that you apply in. This will end on the 31st of August. You will have until the 30th of September of the next school year to provide further eligibility for that academic year or to arrange an alternate plan through us before your plan reverts to the full price of a standard subscription (£9 per month) as stated on our website.

2. You can sign up for accounts on Get My Grades straight away, as all students receive a 7-day free trial. Once set up, you will need to scan and email us one of the above proofs, to [email protected].
a. This will be treated confidentially.
b. You need to ensure that you send us the proof of eligibility via email before you try to use the discount code – we need to approve these before applying the discount to your account.
c. The relevant letters should be scanned or clear photographs taken and attached to the email.

3. Once your proofs have been approved, and we confirm this by email, the discount code FreeSchoolMeals can be used against your order and can be applied when purchasing a subscription. This discount code will reduce your monthly payment to £4.30 and your child will have access to their Get My Grades account immediately.

4. If the proof is received but is not sufficient, you will need to sign up for a full-price subscription until sufficient documentation is received.
a. Once the correct documentation is received, we will process your eligibility claim and you can be transferred onto a plan using the Free School Meals Discount.
b. The discount once applied to your account, will only credit future monthly subscriptions and cannot be applied in retrospect.
c. If any of the proofs we receive do not meet the above criteria, we will notify you and detail any additional information that you will need to send to us.

5. If we receive information which leads us to believe that the proofs you have provided us with are fraudulent, or were obtained through fraudulent means, your discount will immediately be revoked, and you will be charged the full price of a standard subscription (£9 per month).
a. We also reserve the right to report these suspicions to the police and to the National Benefit Fraud Hotline and will do so in regards to any suspicions of fraudulent claims.
b. Should an investigation into fraudulent activity resolve to show that your claims were indeed legitimate, you should provide us with proof of this outcome, and your discount can be reapplied. We will accept proof from the agency or authority dealing with your case. This will be: Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC), the Service and Personnel and Veterans Agency, or your local authority, with investigations having been carried out by Fraud Investigation Officers (FIOs). Only in these instances, will we credit your account where relevant.

6. We reserve the right to amend or change the terms of the Free School Meals promise at any time at our sole discretion. If we do so we will give you 30 days notice before any revised terms come into force.