Parents get cash for school meals over summer
THOUSANDS of parents in Glasgow will get a one-off payment of almost £200 to cover school clothing and free meals over the summer.
Glasgow City Council is to pass on the money it will get from an announcement by Nicola Sturgeon yesterday on cash to extend free school meals over the summer holidays.
Sturgeon said that more than £12 million would be made available to councils to ensure free meals were provided in July and August before school term is due to restart.
The free school meals money is worth £80 per child, and in Glasgow, the council will add it on to the clothing grant and give a payment of £190 per child who is eligible.
In Glasgow, more children qualify for a clothing grant who get free school meals, so more will benefit from the cash.
Since Glasgow schools closed in March, parents whose children qualified for school clothing grants were being given a £20 a month Farmfoods card to replace free school meals.
The final payment on this was made last week, which was due to take parents up to what would have been the end of term.
Chris Cunningham, education convenor, said: “We know that feeding a family over the holidays is a very real worry for many in our city, even before the added pressure of the Covid crisis.
“This extended funding from the Scottish Government comes in addition to more than £2.3m the council has invested in a Children’s Holiday Food Programme; which will provide nutritious food and safe learning activities for young people across Glasgow this summer.
“By using school clothing grant eligibility criteria to distribute this additional funding, we can ensure more young people receive support – with most eligible families benefiting automatically.”
Susan Aitken, leader of Glasgow City Council, said: “With the Covid crisis also widening the inequalities gap in our city, it’s a relief to know that children and families who need it will get the help they need to put food on the table this summer.”
Earlier, Sturgeon had revealed the free meal cash for 175,000 pupils in Scotland.
She said: “We know families are under considerable financial pressures and free school meals are a help to many.
“But they are also important to the health and wellbeing of young children.
“We will provide £12.6m in funding to local authorities to enable the continuation of free school meals during the period from the end of June to the start of the new term in August.”
In addition, over the summer the council is funding 69 projects including some which provide food parcels to families, some which provide prepared meals, some will provide packed lunches to children and some will provide food vouchers.
Of the projects, 48 will provide activity packs for children
Some also have plans for online activities, such as bake-together sessions, craft activities. Some have plans for direct engagement and activity taking into account the current advice on physical distancing. Outdoor activity features in a number of the projects.