Shropshire Council extends free school meals support during holidays
Children in receipt of free school meals in the Shropshire Council area will continue to receive support with food costs during the school holidays until the end of the 2023 spring term, it has been confirmed.
Shropshire Council said that each child who receives free school meals will get £15 a week towards the cost of a school meal equivalent throughout the two-week Christmas school holidays, and the February 2023 half-term holiday.
Support was provided for the October half-term holiday, giving four weeks of support in total.
Most of the support will be through a voucher to spend at a local supermarket, distributed via the children's early years setting, school or college.
It is estimated that around 7,500 children in Shropshire get free school meals and the council has decided to use around £450,000 from the £2.1 million of Household Support Fund money from the Government for the period October 2022 to March 2023 for the initiative.
Councils can choose how to spend this money to support low income families in need.
Gwilym Butler, Shropshire Council’s cabinet member for finance, who is overseeing the council’s response to the cost of living, said: “It’s only right that we have chosen to use this funding to help those children who are most in need.
“Many families with children in receipt of free school meals struggle with the extra costs of food during the school holidays.
“This will give them some help, knowing that their children will still get the equivalent of free school meals during the four weeks of holidays over the autumn and winter period.
“This funding must be used by 31 March 2023, so we will need to review this once we know if any further grant funding is available that could allow us to continue this support.”
