Hertfordshire Council confirms cuts to school holiday supermarket vouchers
Council says Christmas vouchers will still be provided, but budget cuts mean no support during October or February half terms.
Struggling families in Hertfordshire will not receive supermarket vouchers during the October or February half-term holidays, councillors have been told.
The vouchers, which help parents of children who receive benefit-related free school meals, are funded by the government’s Household Support Fund (HSF). However, Hertfordshire’s allocation for 2025/26 is 12% lower than last year, meaning there is not enough money to cover all school breaks.
So far this year, the vouchers have included:
£30 per child at Easter, £10 for May half-term, £60 over the summer holidays and a further £30 voucher will still be provided for each of the county’s 32,000 eligible children at Christmas.
However, £15 supermarket vouchers, which were previously given out during the October and February half terms, will not be available this year.
Council officer George Gearing told councillors that the team had to “scale back” spending because of the reduced budget. Conservative councillor Fiona Thomson called the decision “really worrying”, while councillor Anthony Rowlands agreed the reduction was “regrettable”.
Still, he said the council had tried to make the best use of the money they had: “The need is still no less than it has been – and in some cases, we know it’s probably greater.”
This year, around £4.8 million of the council’s £10.8 million HSF allocation will go toward supermarket vouchers. Other money from the fund is being used for: food banks, energy support, help for the homeless, aid for survivors of domestic abuse ,vouchers for low-income pensioners and care leavers over 19 and ‘winter essentials’ like blankets, children’s shoes, and slow cookers for families in crisis.
Since the fund launched in 2021, Hertfordshire has received about £42 million in total. However, this is the last year for the Household Support Fund.
A new Crisis and Resilience Fund is expected to replace it in 2026, with rules and eligibility still being worked out.
Tina Powell, from the council, said some residents may now rely on the extra support:
“There is a concern that due to the length of time the Household Support Fund has been helping people, a dependency may have developed. We need to manage this going forward.”