Free school meal payments available for Scarborough borough groups

Community and voluntary groups who provided meals for children over the recent half-term holiday will be able to claim £500 from Scarborough Council to cover the cost.

Council leader Cllr Steve Siddons today approved a budget of up to £10,000 to ensure those groups which stepped in to help children who would have been denied free school meals are not left out of pocket.

A report, prepared for Cllr Siddons, stated:

“The decision not to provide school meals during the October half term was a national one.

“However, its implications were felt locally and a number of local organisations provided food support during this period as part of ongoing work to support people in need and experiencing hardship.”

One-off grants of up to £500 are available to groups that meet the following criteria set by the council:

• Have provided at least 50 free packed lunches or hot meals to children/young people in need during the half term break. Food can be provided on its own or as part of other activities/ support. Food provided to low income families in need (e.g. food boxes) where children are part of the household is also included.

• Be a constituted group with a bank account (payments cannot be made to individuals). Faith organisations, charities, constituted community groups and nonprofit distributing community organisations are eligible to apply.

• Speaking last month, Cllr Siddons said that the cost of providing the meals should not fall on the groups trying to help. He said:

• “These community organisations do a fantastic job in delivering services and support to the most vulnerable across the borough on a daily basis. We cannot expect them to take on these additional costs alone.”

Details of how to apply for the funding will be revealed shortly.

Over the weekend the government performed a U-turn and agreed to provide meals for children from low-income families during school holidays, starting with the Christmas break.

The change of policy came following a campaign by Manchester United and England footballer Marcus Rashford.