‘Pay cash instead of free school meals’

FAMILIES affected by school closures should be handed cash payments to help pay for meals and childcare, charities said yesterday.

A coalition of children’s charities, parent groups, teaching unions and churches made a plea for financial assistance for families as schools close today.

In a letter to Nicola Sturgeon, they urge her to ensure that cash payments are made to families who currently receive free school meals.

The letter warns that ‘low-income families are already struggling to make ends meet’ and that ‘the additional cost of providing lunch will be a significant, and in many cases unmanageable, financial pressure on families’.

The signatories – including the Church of Scotland, the EIS teaching union, the National Parent Forum, Child Poverty Action Group, One Parent Families Scotland and Citizens Advice Scotland – argue that the most effective way to protect families from the additional pressure that loss of free school meals will create is to make ‘cash payments to families currently in receipt of free school meals’.

It says: ‘We believe support in the face of the Covid-19 crisis must be provided in a way that gives families the choice and agency to meet their family’s needs in this exceptional time. A cash payment in lieu of free school meals would be a dignified response, respectful of human rights and avoiding any potential stigma.’

John Dickie, director of Child Poverty Action Group in Scotland, one of the organisations behind the letter, said: ‘It is absolutely vital that government at every level acts to protect children from the impact of Covid-19.’

He urged the First Minister to provide lowincome families with ‘cash payments to help meet the extra costs of having children at home every day’, adding: ‘Hard-up families are already struggling to stay afloat. This payment would provide a lifeline.’