Families in West Devon and throughout the county, whose children receive free school meals will get support from Devon County Council this winter in helping them to buy food during the school holidays.

The county council is providing holiday food vouchers for children and young people who are eligible for benefit-related free school meals.

If you have children at school and your financial circumstances have changed, your children may be eligible for free school meals. You can find out by applying online through the council’s Citizen’s Portal, which can be found at: https://oneonline.devon.gov.uk/CCSCitizenPortal_LIVE/en

The deadline to receive free school meal holiday vouchers for the Christmas school holidays is Friday, December 16 and application should be submitted as soon as possible.

Before the end of this term, the council will be sending eligible families free school meal holiday vouchers to cover both the Christmas and February 2023 half-term holidays at the same time which intend to give families more flexibility to prioritise and budget their winter food expenditure themselves.

Councillor Roger Croad, Devon’s cabinet member for communities, said: ‘With the cost of living crisis starting to bite, more families in Devon are eligible for free school meals for their children than ever before, with numbers continuing to soar to the highest levels on record. Around a further 1,000 children have become eligible for free school meals over the last year, rising to a total of approximately 19,500 pupils.

‘Thankfully the government’s decision to continue it’s ‘household support fund’ for now means we’ve been able to buy nearly £900,000 worth of supermarket vouchers to support these families during the Christmas and February half- term holidays so their children don’t go hungry.’