A ‘Covid Holiday Help’ scheme will support thousands of children and their families across Milton Keynes.
It follows the Government announcement in late November that extra funding would be provided to councils to assist families this winter.
The funding is targeted around those families struggling with food and fuel bills.
Milton Keynes Council is committed to ensuring that children who receive free school meals will continue to be supported during the Christmas and February holidays.
More than £700,000 will be spent on ensuring families are warm and fed over the winter.
Most of the help will be provided through supermarket e-vouchers, which have been automatically issued by schools to families who receive free school meals.
In addition, qualifying families who are on a low income and have pre-school children have been given vouchers through the Early Years nurseries and Children’s Centres.
The vouchers started to be issued from mid-December. If your child receives free school meals or is a qualifying preschool child, the school, nursery of children’s centre will issue you with a voucher worth £30 per child for the 2 Christmas holiday weeks.
You will either receive a voucher code by e-mail or by post.
This is additional help on top of the extra support already provided by the existing Food bank Xtra and Local Welfare Provision Schemes.
Milton Keynes Council Leader, Pete Marland, said: “2020 has been a tough year for families across the country but especially hard on those who are struggling to cover their basic living costs. This package of support is essential to ensure that some of our most badly affected families have the essential supplies they need."
"No child should ever go without food, and we will continue to focus efforts on protecting and supporting the most vulnerable.”
