School meal debt to be written off in Edinburgh
As part of a number of measures to ease the cost of living, Edinburgh Council has agreed to write off £64,000 worth of school dinner debt
School dinner debt in Edinburgh will be written off as part of a number of measures from the Council to ease the cost of living on parents.
A £100 one off payment will also be made to the families of over eight thousand pupils who qualify for free meals.
The decision was made after an an underspend of £1.2 Million was found in the previous financial year for the local authority, meaning the money could be used where Councillors felt it was required.
The proposals were met with unanimous approval at yesterday's (14 July) finance and resources committee.
Green Councillor for Portobello and Craigmillar Alys Mumford was one of those calling for the actions.
She told Forth 1 that it was the compassionate thing to do, in writing off the debt:
"Debt is awful for anyone that's ever experienced it and not only creates financial hardship, but it also comes with huge amounts of stigma and shame.
"To force families to choose between that and whether or not their child gets a meal in the school day is horrific.
"We've heard stories of children having to lie to their parents about whether they've eaten or not, or splitting their food with classmates who can't afford to eat.
"And we also know that women are far more likely to bear the brunt of this and of the cost of living crisis in general and will be going without to provide for their children.
"So cancelling School Meal related debt is a simple way to make things a little bit easier for folk but it's it's not the answer to the poverty crisis we're seeing."
The SNP brought forward the plan for the cost of living support.
Commenting, SNP Group Leader Cllr Adam McVey said:
"Edinburgh is doing well relative to many places but it also contains real deprivation – one in five children in our capital are growing up in poverty. And being poor in a wealthy city comes with its own challenges.
"It would have been simply wrong to have spent the budget underspend on IT equipment, as originally proposed, when so many families in Edinburgh are having to choose between eating and heating."
The committee also agreed that an additional £128,000 would be added to the school meal hardship fund, that work with the Edinburgh Partnership would be strengthened to improve benefit take-up and that the Council would write to both the Scottish and UK Governments urging higher social security payments.