Winter Grant Scheme extended
Published: 16 March 2021
Council House
Derby City Council has announced the extension of the Government Covid Winter Grant Scheme to cover the period of the school Easter holidays helping thousands of households with children eligible for free school meals as well as other vulnerable families and individuals.
The original scheme was due to close on 31st March to be replaced over Easter with the Holiday Activity and Food (HAF) programme. However, due to the continuing COVID restrictions the government has extended funding to cover the period to the end of the Easter break.
The additional funding will be used to distribute food vouchers through the schools to those eligible, as was previously done over Christmas. The grant will also cover the extension of the winter support payment for energy and water bills. The Community Hub is also available on 01332 640000 for those who may need to discuss further support.
As previously, approximately 80% of the additional funding will be spent on distributing food vouchers through the schools to those eligible, with the remaining 20% spent on helping vulnerable households & individuals with a contribution towards their energy and water bills.
The HAF programme will still go ahead with a great programme of activities and support for children and families that although largely accessed online also feature some great outdoor suggestions including Beat the Street with full details to be announced in the coming days. The funding for the food element of the HAF programme will be extended into the summer programme.
By the end of March the Winter Grant scheme will have delivered the equivalent of 170,000 meals as well as issuing many winter payments.
Councillor Evonne Williams, Cabinet Member for Children and Young People said:
I’m delighted that the Government has announced this additional funding which provides some reassurance and security to vulnerable families this Easter.
With the HAF programme largely online due to Covid restrictions it would have been extremely difficult to economically distribute all the meals required to support those eligible families, so at the moment distributing vouchers through schools is the best solution to ensure no child goes hungry this Easter.
However, I’m really pleased that the HAF programme of activities is still going ahead and look forward to announcing what is on offer very soon.