Labour call for ‘year round’ school meal vouchers and 'holiday clubs' in Northampton

A party motion, which will be voted on at Monday’s full council meeting (November 2) also calls on the council to establish ‘holiday clubs’ for children where they can carry out physical and social activities as well as getting food.

This afternoon (October 27) the county council finally revealed details on how it will provide free school meal vouchers during the half term break to 17,000 eligible children in the county, after announcing it would fund the scheme at the weekend. It equates to £15 per child.

And Labour councillors want to see Northampton Borough Council play its part too. The motion calls on the council to write to Northampton’s two Conservative MPs and lobby them to ‘support the extension of the voucher scheme to all school holiday periods and to look to embed the scheme all year round’.

Both the town’s MPs, Andrew Lewer (Northampton South) and Michael Ellis (Northampton North) voted down a parliamentary motion from the national Labour party to extend the voucher scheme for all school holidays into 2021. Mr Lewer called the motion ‘virtue signalling’ and said that it was parent’s responsibility to feed their children while they were not at school.

Since then, the county council has announced it will fund the extension of the scheme for the October half term using money it has received from the Government for COVID-19-related costs, which includes support for children. The council has received more than £43 million in emergency funding from the Government since March.

Meanwhile the Labour motion, from Councillor Emma Roberts, also calls on the council to help establish ‘holiday clubs’ where children can access social activities as well as food, providing financial relief for parents on very low incomes.

She states in the motion: “One in ten children in Northamptonshire receive free school meals. For many of these children this is the only hot and substantial meal they receive.

“Free School meals are not customarily available during school holidays. Working parents incur additional childcare costs around the holidays. Families already struggling with low budgets find it difficult to feed their children. Children most at risk of hunger during the holidays may also suffer from social isolation, loneliness, and inactivity. These factors combined can lead to significant weight loss or gain, and negative impacts on physical and mental well-being.

“This is a problem highlighted further with the current pandemic and one that is likely to increase and definitely not go away. COVID-19 is a natural phenomenon, poverty is not, and the containment of the virus will not end this plight.

“What is needed is joined up working with the County Council and a commitment to take this motion forward into the West Northants authority.”

The motion will require the support of the Conservative administration at the borough council if it is to be passed.