More children in Plymouth should be able to get free school meals during the current COVID-19 lockdown, argues the Council’s cabinet member responsible for education, who is lobbying Government for the eligibility criteria to be changed.
Councillor Jon Taylor has written to the Secretary of State for Education and to the city’s MPs urging a rapid review of the criteria, given the current financial difficulties many families suddenly find themselves in.
The Cabinet Member for Education, Skills and Transformation said: “I am seeing a daily increase in this process as more residents are being furloughed or made redundant. The situation is further exacerbated by our large cohort of self-employed, representing eight per cent of our economy, who have nothing to turn to until June when present Government financial support starts.”
Free school meals are a vital part of the support package for families and help to reduce immediate hardship, he said but the current application process is too slow to respond to the national emergency.
An immediate solution would be to broaden the criteria to include children of the self-employed and workers who have been furloughed or made redundant as well as those receiving Council Tax support, he argued.
He also voiced concerns that the Free School Meals Vouchers, while ‘a useful stop gap’, was not ideal for many families areas of Plymouth which do not have access to the supermarkets listed.
He added: “This is why we have been supportive of the creation of community food hubs in schools. Put simply, just too many families in areas that need this food the most, live too far from the supermarkets that participate in the scheme.”
A full copy of the letter is available on request.