Middlesbrough Council switches support payment to e-voucher

Middlesbrough Council hopes the use of e-vouchers will discourage people from using the funds for alcohol

A £60 voucher for struggling families will be paid by a new method after a previous scheme saw some parents use the funds for alcohol and cigarettes.

Middlesbrough Council is to issue 9,000 e-vouchers over the next week to parents whose children qualify for free school meals.

They will be redeemable at supermarkets or can be used towards energy costs.

The authority said the previous use of PayPoint for items such as cigarettes was not "ideal".

Janette Savage, head of resident and business support, said the council was keen to operate the latest scheme in the run up to Christmas so people would "have something in their pockets".

She added it had listened to comments following its previous distribution of support funds, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

"We were getting a lot of feedback from shops saying some of it was getting traded for cigarettes and alcohol, which isn't ideal.

"People were going to playgrounds and selling them too so we decided to do them through a particular voucher solution where they can redeem them at a supermarket or they can redeem them for fuel [energy].

"It's not 100% absolute, but it deals with some of the contentious issues that we were dealing with. That seems to have gone down really well."

The council's head of adult social services, Erik Scollay, said the vast majority of people used the vouchers for its intended purpose.

The government's £500m Household Support Fund, which is financing the scheme, has been extended to 31 March.

It aims to help vulnerable people with essentials and is administered by councils.

Parents will also be able to apply for vouchers if their children are:

• Under the age of five and another child in the household is eligible for free school meals

• Attending a school outside Middlesbrough but living in the town and eligible for free school meals

• Not eligible for free school meals but their household is entitled to Council Tax reduction