{
 "id": "fsm-eligibility-wales",
 "title": "Pupils eligible for free school meals, Wales",
 "category": "education",
 "summary": "The share of pupils aged 5 to 15 in Wales's maintained schools who were eligible for free school meals, each school year since 2003/04, from the January school census.",
 "unit": "percent",
 "chart": "line",
 "volatile": false,
 "status": "Official statistics",
 "notes": [
  "Eligibility only: StatsWales also counts pupils transitionally protected, who keep free school meals though no longer eligible, and the hub leaves them out so the series runs back to 2003/04. StatsWales gives no figures for 2012/13. England's free school meals figures are the DfE's, on their own pages."
 ],
 "provenance": {
  "publisher": "Welsh Government",
  "publisher_url": "https://www.gov.wales/statistics-and-research",
  "source_page": "https://stats.gov.wales/en-GB/a875cf2c-6619-4aed-a160-9fe010ad6752",
  "licence": "OGL-3.0",
  "licence_name": "Open Government Licence v3.0",
  "licence_url": "https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/",
  "attribution": "Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.",
  "retrieved_at": "2026-11-01T21:04:46Z",
  "raw_files": [
   {
    "name": "metadata.json",
    "url": "https://api.stats.gov.wales/v2/a875cf2c-6619-4aed-a160-9fe010ad6752",
    "sha256": "8482df55b364493ed7f566192722e86201638a43cd82075529b2e05ee42bd440",
    "bytes": 6173,
    "content_type": "application/json; charset=utf-8"
   },
   {
    "name": "data.csv",
    "url": "https://api.stats.gov.wales/v2/a875cf2c-6619-4aed-a160-9fe010ad6752/data?format=csv",
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    "bytes": 132440,
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   }
  ]
 },
 "meta": {
  "latest_period": "2026-01-31",
  "statswales_title": "Pupils in maintained schools aged 5-15 eligible for free school meals by local authority and year",
  "designation": "official",
  "published": "2026-08-05T08:30:00.000Z"
 },
 "headline": {
  "label": "Pupils eligible for free school meals",
  "value": 20.5,
  "period": "2025/26"
 },
 "series": [
  {
   "name": "Pupils eligible for free school meals",
   "points": [
    {
     "x": "2003/04",
     "v": 19.0
    },
    {
     "x": "2004/05",
     "v": 18.4
    },
    {
     "x": "2005/06",
     "v": 17.5
    },
    {
     "x": "2006/07",
     "v": 17.4
    },
    {
     "x": "2007/08",
     "v": 17.0
    },
    {
     "x": "2008/09",
     "v": 17.8
    },
    {
     "x": "2009/10",
     "v": 18.9
    },
    {
     "x": "2010/11",
     "v": 19.7
    },
    {
     "x": "2011/12",
     "v": 19.3
    },
    {
     "x": "2013/14",
     "v": 19.1
    },
    {
     "x": "2014/15",
     "v": 18.8
    },
    {
     "x": "2015/16",
     "v": 18.4
    },
    {
     "x": "2016/17",
     "v": 17.8
    },
    {
     "x": "2017/18",
     "v": 17.4
    },
    {
     "x": "2018/19",
     "v": 18.3
    },
    {
     "x": "2019/20",
     "v": 19.9
    },
    {
     "x": "2020/21",
     "v": 22.9
    },
    {
     "x": "2021/22",
     "v": 23.3
    },
    {
     "x": "2022/23",
     "v": 22.2
    },
    {
     "x": "2023/24",
     "v": 21.3
    },
    {
     "x": "2024/25",
     "v": 20.3
    },
    {
     "x": "2025/26",
     "v": 20.5
    }
   ]
  }
 ]
}