English headteachers have been advised they do not need to provide either free school meal vouchers or food parcels over the half-term holiday next month as “wider government support is available.”
Currently the government provides schools with funding to cover benefits-related free school meals and schools can claim for additional funding of £3.50 per week for each eligible pupil receiving lunch parcel provision at home.
Guidance from the Department for Education to schools states: “Schools do not need to provide lunch parcels or vouchers during the February half-term as there is already wider government support available to support families and children outside of term-time through the Covid winter grant scheme.”
The Covid Winter Grant Scheme £170 million Covid Winter Grant Scheme was announced on 8th November and is will be administered by Swindon Borough Council and other local authorities on behalf of central government.
The funding will be ring-fenced, with at least 80% earmarked to support with food and essential utility costs, and will cover the period to the end of March 2021.
Kevin Courtney, joint general secretary of the National Education Union, said: “It is simply astonishing that the government has, once again, revealed its total disregard for those hardest hit by the ongoing health pandemic.
“After a year in which the stark inequalities faced by millions of children and young people has been at the forefront of the minds of the public, the ugly spectre of holiday hunger is now looming yet again.
“This week, Matt Hancock, Gavin Williamson and Boris Johnson made public statements about how appalled they were by the quality of food parcels shared on Twitter. But that is put in the shade by today’s confirmation that yet more disruption to free schools meals could lie ahead in half-term. These are battles which should not have to be repeatedly fought.”
Mr Courtney continued: “No child should wake up feeling anxious about where their next meal is coming from, and even now millions are still waiting for the reinstatement of the national food voucher scheme after weeks of struggling to access food parcels.
“Suggesting that local councils will be able to recreate a brand new system of supplying free school meals for the week of half-term using the Covid Winter Grant Scheme is an unnecessary logistical nightmare, and the confusion and chaos this could cause will put millions of children at risk. The anguish, not to mention hunger, this decision could cause is immeasurable.
“Ministers should hang their heads in shame and, unless they reverse this decision, never again speak of their concern for disadvantaged children.”
