The Leader of Hull City Council has called on the Government to confirm it will continue to provide the specific funding
The leader of Hull City Council has urged the Government to confirm that struggling families will still be able to receive free school meals during the holidays, amid funding reforms. Councillor Mike Ross has penned a letter to Whitehall asking for confirmation that it will continue to provide funding for the free meals, ahead of changes due to come into force next April.
Cllr Ross explained how the local authority is currently able to provide free school meals to eligible families during school holiday periods, because of how it uses the Household Support Fund.
He said: “It means this Christmas that eligible parents and carers will automatically receive a £15 voucher per week per eligible child, with no need to fill in any application. But the Household Support Fund will be replaced by the Government in April by a new scheme, the Crisis and Resilience Fund.
“Whilst precise details of how that Fund will work aren’t yet known, we are aware that draft policy suggests distributing free school meals vouchers won’t be permitted on a routine basis. This means that a time consuming and costly application process may end up having to be put in place and risks children in Hull losing out on this vital support.”
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The letter, sent to The Rt Hon Pat McFadden MP, Secretary of State for Work & Pensions, lists his concerns for the Crisis Resilience Fund (CRF) which will replace the existing Household Support Fund.
For the last five years, Hull City Council has used the Household Support Fund (HSF) and previous grant schemes to fund Free School Meal holiday vouchers – which has enabled it to support struggling families.
At present, the FSM holiday voucher scheme supports around 15,000 pupils in the city, which the leader says “contributes to alleviating food poverty for children during holiday periods” and amounts to a spend of around £2.6m from its total HSF allocation of £5.3m.
However, under the new fund, local authorities have been informed that the draft policy direction of the Government is that there should be “No routine use of FSM vouchers – there will not be special provision for food needs during the holidays, as this should be treated the same as other crises”.
The council tells the Secretary of State for Work & Pensions that, as the FSM holiday voucher scheme has been in place since 2020, it is reasonable for parents to have come to the view that the holiday vouchers are essentially an element of their FSM entitlement, adding: “Removing it may well be seen as a withdrawal of FSM provision to some of our most in need residents and their children”.
The letter continues: “All children deserve the chance to grow up healthy, no matter where they live. Yet rising poverty rates mean that more families are finding it difficult to afford healthy food. Our FSM holiday voucher scheme has benefitted many of our most in need children and young people, and should the Government force the Council to withdraw this provision then I believe that this could have a significant negative impact on them.”
On the back of the letter, the council leader added: “Our current way of doing things means that some of our most in need residents and their children don’t miss out on this help, and it also helps us to avoid additional admin costs. I’ve written to the Secretary of State spelling out the negative impacts that could come from any major changes to how free school meal vouchers are funded and administered.
“All children deserve the chance to grow up healthy, no matter where they live, and we will do all we can in Hull to help them access healthy food.”
Last year a Child Poverty Action Group report found there were 70,000 children in poverty in the whole of Yorkshire who are unable to receive free school meals, including 3,000 in Hull and a further 3,000 in East Riding. For a child in year 3 or above to be eligible for free school meals they must have a household income below £7,400 after tax and excluding benefits – the figure has not been increased since 2018 despite cost of living and inflationary pressures having significantly increased pressures on families.
The Department for Work and Pensions was contacted for comment and says it is unable to comment on draft policies.
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