I’ve received an update this evening from the corporate director of resources at county hall setting out details of the assistance available during the school holidays to those families with children eligible for free school meals. Please note the details below:
We are pleased to share with you the details of that assistance and how parents and carers can access it. Those eligible parents will be able to claim £15 per child for the half term week, to be spent on food supplies.
A form has been developed that will sit on our website at awb://www.durham.gov.uk/freeschoolmeals Parents and carers can fill out their details and those who are eligible will be sent a QR code to their phone. This code can be redeemed for a cash value of £15 at any PayPoint/Post Office and used to buy food and drink supplies. Details of where these points are located can be found at https://paypoint.com/en-gb/consumers/store-locator or http://www.postoffice.co.uk/branch-finder
Anyone who struggles to access the internet or who needs additional support can call our County Durham Together Community Hub, where our staff will be on hand to either assist them with the forms or talk through their other options. Please note, the scheme only applies to children whose parents receive certain benefits – further details are available on the website.
We are aware that there are many community groups and venues that are already providing excellent support and provisions for people in our communities and we wish to stress that we are not looking to replace this great work. However, we recognise that this support is not an option for everyone, for a range of reasons, and we hope that the council’s scheme will ensure that no child goes hungry during this holiday week.
