School meals: 'Holiday hunger' payments not guaranteed for Easter break

Funding for the school holiday fund is only in place until the end of March

The Department of Education (DE) cannot yet confirm whether "holiday hunger" payments can be made during the 2023 Easter break.

The £27 per fortnight payments help the families of ober 96,000 children with the cost of meals during the holidays.

But funding for the school holiday food grant is only in place until the end of March.

Meanwhile, a union representing many NI principals is to refuse to make staff redundant to save money.

The National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT) is taking the action as part of escalating action short of strike.

The union did not participate in recent walkouts held by other teaching unions on 21 February.

Four teaching unions took part in a half-day strike due to a pay dispute - their first walkout in six years.

What is the holiday food grant?

The school holiday food grant was agreed by the Stormont Executive in 2020 to help families of children entitled to free school meals with food costs during the school holidays.

At a cost of about £22m a year, the payments have been made fortnightly to families during school holidays since 2020, but a long-term plan to continue them until 2025 was not agreed before the executive collapsed in 2022.

Former Education Minister Michelle McIlveen had provided funding for the scheme to continue until March 2023, but the school Easter holidays are in early April.

When asked by BBC News NI whether the payments would be made at Easter, the department said that it was "facing very significant budgetary pressures".

• Holiday meal payments to continue until next March

• Education bosses assessing potential 10% budget cut

It added a decision and an announcement on the school holiday food grant scheme would be "made once 2023/24 budgets are known".

According to DE figures, almost three in every 10 school pupils in Northern Ireland are entitled free school meals.

Children can get free school meals if their family have annual taxable income of under £16,190 or net earnings of under £14,000 a year.

The NAHT represents principals and vice-principals in about two thirds of Northern Ireland's schools

Meanwhile, the NAHT union is to increase its action short of strikes in schools.

The union had previously said it supported the strike by other unions but wanted to give more time for a pay dispute to be settled.

Among the new actions short of strike from Monday 13 March, the NAHT has told members to "refuse to facilitate any budget-based redundancy for any member of staff."

"Any redundancy that is necessitated as a result of the financial circumstances of the school should not be facilitated," the instruction continued.

The union's members are also to refuse to pass on any communications to staff or governors from the employing authorities or DE, and to limit any contact with the department to a one-hour window every week - apart from over any safeguarding issues.

There have been a number of recent warnings about significant pressure on education spending.

For example, the Education Authority (EA) has been asked to model cuts of up to 10% to its 2023/24 budget.