Over 22,000 supermarket vouchers, worth over £1.9 million, have been sent to low-income families in Devon to help them buy food over the upcoming summer holidays.
Each child currently eligible for free school meals during term time has received a £90 voucher to spend on replacing the meals they would have had at school during the day.
It’s the equivalent of £15 per week of the six week school holiday, and is being distributed in one lump sum now to allow families some flexibility on how they spend the vouchers and try to help with the additional pressure the summer period puts on household budgets. They can be redeemed in major supermarkets across Devon and arrangements are in place for families who cannot get to a supermarket.
Money for the free school meal holiday vouchers comes from the Government’s Household Support Funds – national funding to help families struggling with high costs of food, energy and other essential household items.
Since Household Support Funds were introduced in 2021, Devon County Council has allocated, £17,037,397.30 to provide Free School Meal holiday vouchers to help prevent pupils going hungry over the school holidays.
The council, this year, received a reduced level of Household Support Funding – a reduction from £10.1 million last year to £8.9 million this year – but councillors last week agreed to continue funding free school meal holiday vouchers at the same level as previous years, despite the reduced pot of money.
Councillor Cheryl Cottle-Hunkin, the council’s cabinet member with responsibility for Rural Affairs, said.
“We know that many families whose children are eligible for benefits-related free school meals during term time also rely on the holiday food vouchers, and therefore we will continue to support this at the same level as the council has done previously. We will also continue to operate the Holiday Activities and Food programme.
“This is the final year of the Household Support Fund, with the Government indicating a move to a new Crisis and Resilience Fund from April 2026. It’s not clear what the impact of that decision will be on households in Devon, who rely on the Household Support funding to help with high and rising costs of food, fuel, and other essential household items.
“In the meantime, the number of families in Devon who are eligible for free school meals continues to rise, and with food prices, and energy prices, continuing to remain high, we are concerned about the impact that the government’s policy decisions will have on vulnerable families here in the Southwest.
“We will be writing to central government and our Devon MPs, and lobbying them via bodies such as the Local Government Association, highlighting our concerns about the impact of their policy decisions on vulnerable households here in Devon, and of the lack of clarity regarding the new Crisis and Resilience Fund. Following the sudden ceasing of the Rural Services Delivery grant at the end of last year, and the lack of any mention of Devon in the recent Spending Review, we are concerned that central government will continue to place their focus on big urban centres, failing to accurately recognise or measure rural deprivation. As a council we will be campaigning for a change in methodology to ensure our predominantly rural county gets a fair deal in the future.”
