The variable supplied will be whether, at the end of key stage four, the applicant was known to be eligible for free school meals (FSM) in the previous six years.
It will be made available alongside MEM2021 – a variant of the multiple equality measure (MEM) – which calculates the probability of your English 18 and 19 year old applicants entering higher education based on several equality factors. MEM 2021 incorporates:
- free school meals eligibility at the end of key stage four
- where applicants live, using POLAR4 data
- income deprivation affecting children index (IDACI)
- school type
Additionally, a further variant of the MEM is available for all UK domiciled applicants – this incorporates POLAR4 data, index of multiple deprivation (IMD) and school type.
We’ve listened to your feedback, and this year you can choose how frequently you want to receive your contextual data updates – daily, weekly or monthly. Once you’ve signed up, email mcds@ucas.ac.uk to let us know your preference.
Signing up for FSM data
Existing modernised contextualised data service (MCDS) customers will receive the new FSM data alongside the MEM2021 supply automatically from Monday 2 August in the same file as your existing data – so there is no need to sign up.
If you’re new to MCDS, simply complete our web form and you’ll receive the data within five working days.
If you have any questions, please email mcds@ucas.ac.uk.