Food vouchers available for low-income families over Christmas

Families of children eligible for benefits-related free school meals in the High Peak can receive £30 food vouchers over the Christmas period. 

Derbyshire County Council has also extended the food voucher scheme to families of pre-school children - aged two to four years old - who are suffering financial hardship, as well as young people leaving local authority care. 

The funding will help to provide food and other household essentials to 26,000 children throughout Derbyshire during the Christmas holidays.

The council has received almost £2.2 million from the government's Covid Winter Grant Scheme to support vulnerable families with food and fuel costs over the winter months.

The electronic food vouchers – which will be sent to parents for each eligible child by email or text message – are part of a raft of measures to support local people most in need during the ongoing pandemic.

In addition to the food vouchers, around £180,000 of the grant will be allocated to help households and individuals who find themselves in financial crisis over the winter.

Councillor Alex Dale, DCC's Cabinet Member for Young People, said: “Winter can be hard and there’s no doubt this year will be even more difficult than usual for many people.

“We very much welcome this extra Government money which will help to ease the pressure on families who are the most in need this Christmas.

“We’ve made it as simple as possible for families to receive their food vouchers by sending them direct to the mobile phone numbers or email addresses eligible parents have already supplied to their child’s school, or to the council during an application for free child care.

“This means the vast majority of families will receive their vouchers automatically from us in time for Christmas.

“If you don’t have children who are eligible for food vouchers but you’re struggling financially I would urge you to visit our website at www.derbyshire.gov.uk/winter where we’ve pulled together a list of the many places you can get help.”

The county council say the second part of the government's grant will help to fund food vouchers for the February half term but the exact amount each child receives will depend on the number of eligible families at that time.

Full details of the criteria for food vouchers and information about how they will be sent out are on the council’s website at www.derbyshire.gov.uk/winter