Families with children who receive benefit-related free school meals will be provided with food vouchers by Kent County Council to help them over the Christmas break.
Those children will also be able to access four days of free activities for school-age children via the Holiday Activities and Food (HAF) programme.
A £20 food voucher, which can be used in supermarkets and some local shops, will be provided for each eligible child or young person through their school or college.
The vouchers, provided by KCC from part of its allocation from the Government’s Household Support Fund, will be issued over the next few days.
Children entitled to free access to four days of activities, with four hours per day, over the holiday period will also be provided with food during the sessions.
The activities typically include a range of ball games, arts and crafts, bouncy castles, dance classes and even a trip to a pantomime, paid for from the Government-funded Holiday Activities and Food programme.
KCC has commissioned The Education People (TEP) to manage the day-to-day delivery of HAF, part of which is to encourage providers to come forward and to agree with them the number of funded places they can offer.
Further information about the scheme can be found here: https://www.theeducationpeople.org/holiday-activities-and-food-programme-kent-haf/
Parents/carers of children who may be entitled to receive benefits-related Free School Meals, but who have not yet applied are urged to visit www.kent.gov.uk/freeschoolmeals as soon as possible so they don’t miss out on the scheme.
Schools are issuing the vouchers to eligible pupils from this week, as they have done for previous holidays, so parents and carers should direct any enquiries to their child’s school.