Calls for further support for East Riding families beyond free school meals

Opposition councillors have called on the East Riding to “go further” than funding free school meals with its share of £170m in government funding to support the vulnerable during winter.

Liberal Democrat opposition Deputy Leader Cllr Denis Healy said he welcomed the government’s Coronavirus Winter Grant Scheme, set to be allocated to councils at the start of December.

But he added the council should use it support families in receipt of Universal Credit or other benefits whose children may not be eligible for free school meals.

Cllr Richard Burton, Conservative leader of East Riding Council, said they aimed to help as many vulnerable families as possible with the funding.

But he added “funding pressures” remained on council budgets due to the coronavirus pandemic and that any support would have to be deliverable within its means.

It comes after the council offered £15 vouchers to free school meal families in half term following a high profile campaign from England footballer Marcus Rashford, backed by Labour.

At least 80 per cent of funding to councils will be ring fenced to support residents, children and families with food and bills under the Coronavirus Winter Grant Scheme.

The government is also extending its Holiday Activities and Food Programme to every council in England for Christmas and Easter and summer in 2021 at a cost of £220m.

The programme previously helped around 50,000 children in 17 local authority areas.

Cllr Healy said he and other opposition members would push for a widening of council support at its next full meeting on Wednesday, November 18.

He added the Liberal Democrats had tabled a motion calling for free school meals to be offered but were now looking to broaden the call following the funding announcement.

Cllr Healy said:

“The council agreed to fund free school meals in half term, that was after many struggling local businesses stepped in as did Beverley Town Council.

“Obviously we welcomed that, but we’re now looking for the council to go further and to cast the net wider with their support.

“The government has announced its funding to cover meals during winter so we’re wondering if there’s scope to go further with that.

“We’d like to see the council support families who might not have children eligible for free school meals but who are on Universal Credit for example.

“I think what local businesses did to support free school meal families during half term was a catalyst for some of this at a local level.

“They managed to deliver that support while being under pressure from coronavirus themselves.

“Their response and the pressure that came from people both here and across the country following the free school meals vote bore fruit, that’s what people power’s about.

“We want to bring pressure to bear here so that people’s voices are heard.

“If you look at all the work local food banks are doing you see that there’s massive amounts of hardship in the East Riding.

“There’s pockets of deprivation in my ward in Beverley for instance, there’s families struggling to put food on the table.

“We’ll be introducing that in the debate and discussion we have at the next council meeting.”

Cllr Burton said the East Riding was still awaiting details on its share of the grant.

But he added the funding announcement showed the government was “following the lead” of councils in its support for the vulnerable.

Cllr Burton said:

“The government has now put funding in place that will clearly help address this, it’s good news.

“We’re currently working on how the scheme will look here in the East Riding.

“We put support in place for families during half term and our offering is now taking shape going forward.

“We want to help as many people as we possibly can, we’re going into a difficult time over winter and there will be lots of families struggling one way or another.

“This is a public health crisis first and foremost but it’s also an economic crisis, there’s pressures on jobs and the national lockdown doesn’t help them either.

“But funding pressures are also there, we need to be able to deliver on the support we say we’re offering.

“These are challenging times and we want to get through this together.

“We want to make sure we support everyone but particularly the most vulnerable.”

Work and Pensions Secretary Thérèse Coffey said following the government’s funding announcement on Sunday (8th November):

“We want to make sure vulnerable people feel cared for throughout this difficult time and, above all, no one should go hungry or be unable to pay their bills this winter."