Food vouchers will go to Hampshire and Wiltshire children in need over February half term
The Councils have confirmed they will be helping to feed youngsters during the break
Vulnerable children in Hampshire and Wiltshire eligible for free school meals will be provided with food vouchers during the February half term holiday.
Hampshire County Council has confirmed that it will hand out over 35,000 vouchers over the school break, as part of the authority's recently launched connect4communities programme to help those facing hardship because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The programme uses funding from the £2.89 million Covid Winter Grant Scheme allocation, awarded to the council by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).
Wiltshire Council was awarded £1.1 million from the same fund - and have already confirmed that they'll be providing vouchers for families during the Easter holidays too.
Cllr Laura Mayes, Cabinet Member for Children, Education and Skills at Wiltshire Council said:
“At Christmas we decided to use the winter grant funding to provide food over the holidays for our children in need and we said then we’d use it for February half term and Easter holidays. Our schools will use the same system as they did at Christmas. We know free school meals is still making news and there could be more developments but for now we have a scheme which is already in place to ensure no child will need to go hungry in Wiltshire.
“Schools and settings will be working directly with the families to provide that funding. For those families who may have fallen on difficult times, we want you to let us know if you believe you are eligible, and we will work with our schools so this is covered for the holidays.”
Hampshire County Council's Executive Lead Member for Children's Services and Young People, Councillor Patricia Stallard, said:
"No child should go hungry. In November, through our connect4communities programme, we made arrangements to ensure sufficient funding was distributed to childminders, early years' providers, schools and colleges, for them to purchase and supply food vouchers to the families of eligible children for the two-week Christmas school holidays and February Half Term.
"Over 105,000 vouchers were given to families in need for the two-week holiday in December and over 35,000 will be provided, for the February break, to those same families and any others in need who were not previously identified."
Ahead of the half term break each eligible household will be given a voucher for each child.
EXTRA SUPPORT AVAILABLE
Further support was put in place for families over the winter season, with each school and college being provided with a Discretionary Grant Fund.
Schools and colleges have the flexibility to use this grant funding to help support families who may not be immediately eligible for the voucher scheme but find themselves struggling financially -for example, where a parent has lost their job due to COVID-19.
The money can be used to help with food and other essential items, such as energy cards/tokens to pay fuel bills.
The council said in addition, connect4communities has awarded a grant of £100,000 to the Citizens Advice Service in Hampshire specifically to support families and people in need with energy costs.
Anyone who would like to find out more information about the connect4communities programme on their website.
You can also find their nearest branch ofCitizens Advice Service on their website.