Eligible families to get school meal vouchers for school holidays in Powys

Powys Council Council's Cabinet approved the scheme, which will cost about £280,000 on Thursday.

At the end of June, the Welsh Government advised that it was ending its support for free school meal provision for children during holidays and half terms. The scheme was introduced during the Covid pandemic to address "holiday hunger" and help families struggling during the cost of living crisis.

The council will now provide free school meal holiday vouchers to eligible families for the summer holidays.

It says the one-off funding will be for 2023 only.

Councillor Matthew Dorrance, Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for a Fairer Powys, said: “The cost of living crisis has impacted all residents across the county but especially those from low-income backgrounds.

“As a council, we can help take some pressure off families who are struggling to make ends meet by providing free school meal holiday vouchers to eligible families. It is important that our children and young people can enjoy their summer holidays in the knowledge that there is food available for them.”

The summer holidays start in Powys on Monday..

Councillor Jake Berriman, Cabinet Member for a Connected Powys, said: “The late notice that councils across Wales were given about this scheme stopping would have had a detrimental impact on low-income families. Not only would they lose out on the voucher scheme but they would also have had a very limited time to adjust their family finances accordingly.

“Our decision will help support those eligible families to provide food for their children during the summer holidays.”

Councillor David Thomas, Cabinet Member for Finance and Corporate Transformation, said: “The voucher scheme introduced by the Welsh Government was a grant funded scheme so no existing budget has been allocated for this activity.

“To fund this scheme, we will draw the down the funding from the council’s central risk budget. This is the right course of action to ensure that those families are able to feed their children during the summer holidays.”