FAMILIES of children who receive school meals will receive food vouchers during the holidays.

Members of Cumberland Council's executive committee approved the purchase at a meeting at the Copeland Centre in Whitehaven on Tuesday (February 13).

It will cover the period from March 18, 2024, to March 17, 2027, and the estimated maximum value is £12 million with the matter now delegated to the council's director of public health and communities.

The report states: "For a number of years Cumbria County Council used part of the central government Household Support Fund Grant to provide food vouchers for families in receipt of free school meals.

"This has been continued by Cumberland Council. Vouchers can be spent in a variety of supermarkets.

"The council currently commissions Wonde Ltd to distribute these vouchers, both paper and electronic to families. The administration of the service is mainly completed by schools who use the Wonde software system to passport vouchers through to families in receipt of free school meals (FSM).

“For the provider, the profit is the commission they receive from the supermarket when vouchers are redeemed.

"The current annual spend is circa £2.5m, equating to £3.45 per child, per day. In December 2023 there were 9,349 children (in receipt of FSM) having vouchers ordered.

"The current contract is set up so that there is no financial commitment from the council, for example, should there be no further funding available via the Household Support Fund Grant or there was a change in strategic direction then the council would not order under this contract.

"Arrangements have to made in advance of the announcement from Government on the Household Support Fund due to the values involved a Regulated Procurement must be undertaken which is subject to set timescales, the current contract ends on February 19, 2024, so to distribute food vouchers for the Easter 2024 Holidays (should funding be available) the procurement needs to be completed before the Spring Budget to be able to be used."