---
title: "The Education (Free School Lunches in Maintained Nursery Schools) (Universal Credit) (England) Order 2026"
id: a97b1af6-b36e-4f21-ae8a-3c18dc7950e9
authority: uk
place: "United Kingdom"
applies_also_from: []
kind: regulation
in_force: true
publisher_url: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2026/706
attribution: "Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives."
solon_url: https://solon.orangecat.ch/law/a97b1af6-b36e-4f21-ae8a-3c18dc7950e9
language: en
in_force_from: 2026-08-17
date_basis: publisher
status: consolidated
source_url: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2026/706/data.xml
read_on: 2026-11-10
sha256: efcb58f29a2e8ab700c5760ae800ee9ac8f92d788eb33d11afe38a04e9934a22
provisions: 4
---

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

## Title and introductory text {#prelims}

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 {#article-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.

## 2 Interpretation {#article-2}

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

## 3 Persons to be treated as within section 512ZB(4A) of the 1996 Act {#article-3}

A registered pupil at a maintained nursery school 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.