Families on low incomes, or struggling financially due to the pandemic in North Yorkshire are set to receive continued support this half-term in the form of supermarket vouchers.
The Covid Winter Grant Scheme provides food voucher payments to ensure parents and carers hit hard by the pandemic can continue to provide children with essentials by helping meet the cost of food during the school holidays. Care leavers are also being provided with the vouchers.
This time vouchers, worth £15 per child, per week, will be reaching 17,000 children and young people in North Yorkshire. The vouchers have been distributed with the help of the county's schools, academies, nurseries and colleges.
The scheme was rolled out over the Christmas holidays, when vouchers were distributed to 17,000 young people in North Yorkshire.
The scheme ensures children eligible for free school meals continue to have access to food during the school holidays and also gives schools discretion to provide help to other families in need, in recognition of the fact that some are newly struggling as a result of the pandemic on businesses and jobs.
The scheme has been welcomed by schools across the county, one Headteacher, Alison Woodward, said:
“The voucher scheme we have opted to use within our Trust was particularly useful as it has enabled our families to balance out their budgets and make independent choices – this is really important as some families feel that they have little control over the current situation.
“We were also extremely pleased to receive some discretionary amounts for families that we work with and we know these are our more vulnerable households at this time.
“Many of these families have not had regular incomes for months, haven’t been able to work or have seen their own businesses simply fold in the lockdown periods.
“This has had a devastating impact on both the parent and children’s mental health and our pastoral teams are very busy working together with our families to support them and make sure that they have enough resources to cope, whether that be financial or emotional.
“The capacity to be able to shop and have regular food for the family has been very important and will continue to be during subsequent holiday periods while safety restrictions are in place.”
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