Call for Highland school meals scheme to continue through the summer
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Just weeks before the school year officially ends an urgent call has been made to continue to provide support for vulnerable children throughout the summer break.
When schools were closed as part of the coronavirus lockdown, free school meals were replaced with a voucher system, but there is no guarantee yet that this will continue during the holidays.
Inverness Ness-side councillor Ron MacWilliam says parents can ill-afford to lose the support when they are already struggling to make ends meet.
“Notwithstanding the way in which the money is paid as a voucher rather than a payment into parents’ bank accounts, the money is vitally important to children,” he said.
“There is great uncertainty over the furlough scheme and employment going forward.
“Nutrition is vitally important for the continued health of our children and young people, and we need to continue the payments over the summer months to make sure they are getting the food that they need.
“In many cases, I have been contacted about these payments being the difference between children going hungry, or not.
“We cannot let people down at the time they need us the most.”
A parent from Merkinch has said that, without the vouchers, her family would go hungry.
Asking not to be named, she said: “The council has been giving us vouchers, backdated to March, and they have been a life-saver.
“I worked in a hotel in town and I was initially furloughed, but I have now been made redundant.
“There is no money coming in and the vouchers have helped me make ends meet. I honestly don’t know what I would have done without them.”
Although the vouchers scheme is administered by Highland Council it is funded by the Scottish Government, which has yet to decide what will happen over summer.
A Highland Council spokesman said: “We are awaiting the outcome of discussions taking place at a national level before we can make a decision on this service”.
A Scottish Government spokeswoman said: “We have provided £30 million to local authorities to support those facing barriers to accessing food during the pandemic, including families eligible for free school meals. This has meant more than 175,000 families have been reached with a free school meal provision, Monday to Friday.
“This funding covers the period until the end of June and we are currently considering ongoing support beyond this period.”
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