Before the government legislated the offer of universal free school meals through the Children and Families Act, the provision of a free hot meal was an incentive for parents on low incomes to disclose details of any state benefits they receive.
This information enabled schools to identify pupils who were eligible for a free school meal and, in turn, those who were eligible for pupil premium funding.
The funding, introduced by the government in April 2011 to help schools narrow the attainment gap between disadvantaged children and their wealthier peers, is available to any pupil who has registered for a free school meal in the past six years, as well as children who have been in local authority care for six months or more.
Primary schools have always been responsible for promoting the free school meals/pupil premium package, but now that the recent legislation has broken the intrinsic link between the two, some are concerned that parents of new pupils will no longer see an incentive to share personal information with schools and miss out on claiming the funding.
"We are very concerned - we struggle to get parents to register as eligible for pupil premium now when there is a free school meal in it for their children," explains Valentine Mulholland, policy adviser at the National Association of Head Teachers.
"Not all parents necessarily see the pupil premium having a tangible benefit, and that's going to be the biggest challenge.
"We're concerned that this will lead to a decline in the number who register for pupil premium."
Mulholland wants the government to take the pressure off schools and explore data sharing between Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs and the Department for Work and Pensions to ensure that no school and, more importantly, no pupil misses out on the funding for 2014/15.
However, Sonia Blandford, chief executive of Achievement for All 3As, believes schools need to promote the funding and the support it offers more actively.
"The partnership between schools and parents has to improve. The way to resolve that is to have a better relationship and to ensure that parent/school partnerships are working in a positive way," she says.
"There are several things that could mitigate against this and there are parents who are worried that their children are stigmatised.
"Schools need to tell parents that this is about working together rather than having something done to the parents and children."
Schools and local authorities are already putting in place plans for ensuring parents will notify them of their eligibility for the pupil premium, of which two approaches are highlighted below.
Council-led approach: Brighton & Hove City Council
The pupil premium and free school meals policies remain closely linked within Brighton, with the council supporting schools to gather the necessary information to identify the pupils who are eligible for pupil premium funding.
The council has written to every parent in the city informing them of the new offer of universal school meals, explaining about the policy and detailing what food will be available.
Attached to the letter is a form for all parents to complete, asking for expressions of interest in the offer and information about any dietary requirements. It also asks for parents' full names, dates of birth and National Insurance (NI) numbers - information that can be used to check eligibility for the pupil premium.
The council asks parents to return the form to schools so that they are able to prepare for the introduction of universal free school meals in September and identify pupils eligible for pupil premium funding.
"We've put these two things together to pull a partnership approach with schools," explains Susie Haworth, the council's school meals team manager.
"It's about raising the profile of free school meals across Brighton and Hove, and it's an opportunity for us to maximise access to pupil premium.
"The whole thing is about schools having better information for September. They are far more engaged by the overall process and they are all relieved it's not something they are going to have to tackle on an individual basis."
School-led approach: Brightlingsea Infant School
In September, when Brightlingsea Infant School writes to parents of new pupils with information about starting school, they will ask for their NI numbers so that Essex County Council can identify the children who qualify for the funding.
"Essex has offered to check against the Department for Work and Pensions hub using their NI numbers to see whether or not they are actually entitled," says head teacher Julia Hunt.
"We are going to be taking those details so that we can do a check - that's basically what Essex's advice is - so that parents don't miss out."
Hunt welcomes the new approach, but has some questions about how the model will be monitored.
"Obviously there is a management issue there because people fall in and out of benefits," she says. "We're not sure if we're going to be checking them at certain points. We will be checking them when they first come in, but hopefully we will have a good relationship with parents and they will inform us of any changes."
The school ensures that children who require extra support in order to reach their expected level of development receive that help whether or not they receive support through pupil premium funding and regardless of their background.
"In our schools, it's not a case of saying you've got to be pupil premium to access that support, it's a case of what children need to achieve these targets," explains Hunt. "We don't want to set up barriers saying you've got to be in something to get something."
