Families in Sefton offered £25 holiday meal vouchers and £10 energy vouchers during half term

Over this week’s school half-term break, Sefton Council will once again be providing eligible local families with holiday meal vouchers.

Now worth £25 per week for each child, the vouchers can be used to buy food in-store and online at local supermarkets. They also include £10 to support people’s expenditure on fuel and energy in the face of rocketing prices.

The vouchers, which the Council is providing through its Household Support Grant funding allocation from the Department of Work and Pensions, cannot be used to purchase alcohol, tobacco, lottery tickets, phone top ups or stamps.

Sefton Council provided similar voucher schemes over last year’s school holiday periods and will be doing so again during the Easter holidays in April.

Cllr Trish Hardy, Sefton Council’s Cabinet Member for Communities and Housing said:

“I am pleased that the Council is once again able to step in and support families through this week’s half term holiday at a time when many are facing rising prices in the shops, a huge jump in fuel costs and, in many cases, still coping with the Government’s £20 a week cut in Universal Credit payments.

“Since the start of the COIVID-19 pandemic the Council has seen a steep rise in the numbers of children eligible for free school meals.

“Sefton Families that don’t receive free school meals at the moment but think they might qualify should visit www.sefton.gov.uk/freeschoolmeals.”

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