Manchester free school meal vouchers 2022: how to apply for Easter holidays, payment dates, who is eligible?

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Manchester City Council have confirmed that they will be funding free school meals to those eligible, and many have experienced a tough couple of years financially.

With the widely publicised cost of living crisis also in the UK, with prices of energy bills rising from April 1, 2022, this news will be welcome to many in the Manchester area.

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According to the Manchester City Council website there are around 31,000 children and young people in the city who receive benefits-related free school meals.

In October 2021, supermarket vouchers worth up to £15 per eligible child were issued from children at nursery through to year 14.

Who is eligible for free school meals?

Parents across the Manchester area that claim certain benefits are eligible for their children to receive free school meals.

If your child is a recipient of free school meals already, you may already be eligible for free school meals over the Easter holiday.

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You may be eligible for free school meals if you receive any of the following:

  • Income support
  • Income based jobseekers allowance
  • Income-related Employment and Supporters allowance 
  • Child tax Credit (as long as your annual gross income is £16,190 or less and you don’t get working tax credit)
  • Working tax credit run-off after you come off Working Tax Credit
  • Universal Credit that you applied for on, or after, 1 April 2018. As long as your household income is less than £7,400 a year after tax, not including any benefits.

To check if you are eligible, go on your relevant council website and apply.

What are free school meal vouchers and how does it work?

The free school meals holiday voucher scheme is a way of providing financial support to families who need it, via feeding their children. It is given to those who are eligible, and would be receiving free school meals in the term-time, ensuring they’re adequately fed during school holidays.

The vouchers can be redeemed at most supermarkets, and helps ease the burden on those who may be financially restricted.

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Vouchers can be spent at the following nationwide supermarkets:

  • Aldi
  • Asda
  • John Lewis
  • Marks and Spencer
  • Morrison’s
  • Tesco
  • Waitrose

These shops are loosely based, and is dependent on the terms and conditions of the voucher you are issued by the school or council.

It is advised to contact the councils directly, for more information and where the vouchers can be redeemed.

What has the council said?

ManchesterWorld has reached out to Salford, Trafford, Tameside, Manchester council for further information about the scheme, such as how they are issuing free school meal vouchers across the region, but are still awaiting a reply.

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Other ways to find support are available, such as In Manchester, a scheme has been delivered that provides free lunches and activities for children over the Easter break. Activities are being held across the entire city, in venues such as schools, youth centres, adventure playgrounds and more. Eligible children and young people are invited through schools or youth providers to benefit from the scheme.

On the website, the council states: “The city council has also agreed that it will be funding free lunches through the Easter school holidays for all children and young people in the city who are eligible for benefits’ related free school meals, to ensure they don’t go hungry during their break from school.”

Councillor Garry Bridges, Executive Member for Children and Schools, Manchester City Council, said: “The last two years have been really tough for everyone, but it has been harder still for thousands of children and young people in the city and their families who were struggling to survive even before the pandemic hit.  We hope that providing funding for lunches through the Easter holidays for eligible children and young people will go some way towards helping.

Councillor Sharmina August from Salford City Council has said: “It is important that no child goes hungry in this great city and young people on the scheme who receive school meals will continue to get them.”

What is the value of the vouchers and where can they be redeemed?

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The monetary value is currently unknown, as is information regarding where they can be redeemed. ManchesterWorld has reached out to the councils for a comment on this information, and will update the article when we receive a comment.

When are the Easter holidays?

In Manchester, schools broke up for the two-week Easter break on Friday, April 1, 2022, and children in Manchester do not return to school until Tuesday, April 19.