Worcestershire scales back summer holiday free school meals vouchers

Children in Worcestershire will get vouchers for two weeks over the holidays

A council has said it will only provide free school meal vouchers for the first two weeks of the summer holidays.

Worcestershire County Council said the move came after criteria for spending by central government funding changed.

It has left the authority needing to budget for supporting pensioners and rising energy bills.

It means some 15,000 children in receipt of free school meals will only get vouchers for a short period of the almost seven-week holidays.

A councillor said it was concerning and warned "kids are going hungry again".

Free school meals have traditionally only been provided in term times, however during the pandemic, many local authorities decided to fund them over the holidays too following a campaign by England footballer Marcus Rashford.

It has been paid for by the government's Household Support Fund, however the Local Democracy Reporting Service said the terms of this funding has since changed.

The government says councils have discretion on how to use the funding - which in Worcestershire is worth £3.95m between April and September - but it is expected to be spent on those most in need, particularly households including children and pensioners who would otherwise struggle with bills.

Other councils, including Birmingham, have already scrapped free school meal vouchers over holidays

In England, about 1.9 million children are eligible for free school meals, with a further 800,000 living in poverty who do not qualify.

Councillor Lynn Denham said it was "very concerning", adding that 17% of children in Worcester were living in food poverty.

"This was the campaign we fought for alongside Marcus Rashford and now kids are going hungry again," she said.

Worcestershire County Council said it would provide meal vouchers for the first two weeks of the holidays, but it had to allocate the funding "to include more general help and support for wider groups of the population".

It said it was working with schools to direct families in need to other local resources, including the Holiday Activities and Food (HAF) programme.

The provision offers activities and meals over the holidays, however pupils are restricted to a maximum of 16 days of activities across the holiday.

Low income families in other parts of the West Midlands have also hit out at HAF programmes in the past, saying they cannot afford the extra travelling expenses to access activities.