HUNGRY children will be provided with more free meal vouchers during the summer school holidays.
Worcester City Council said it will pay for lunches for another four weeks in the summer holidays for children who usually receive free school meals.
The vouchers, which will be handed to as many as 3,400 children in Worcester from the start of August, will be funded by £215,000 from the city council’s hardship fund.
Worcestershire County Council had agreed to pay for some meal vouchers but only for the first two weeks of the summer holiday due to the government saying that more of the money had to be spent on pensioners - meaning a cut to the amount available solely to struggling families and their children.
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Councillor Marc Bayliss, leader of Worcester City Council, said: “There can be no one in Worcester who is not acutely aware of the impact the current cost of living crisis is happening on families across our city.
“The city council has an important role to play in supporting those families that are hardest hit and I am delighted that we have been able to secure cross-party support for this initiative to ensure children do not go hungry over the summer holidays.”
Qualifying children will receive vouchers worth £3 per day and can be redeemed at supermarkets for food and drink.
Details of how to download the vouchers will be provided to parents before the end of the term.
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The announcement was made by Cllr Bayliss at a cost-of-living conference run by the city council at the University of Worcester Arena on Wednesday (July 13).
The conference, which was attended by more than 60 people, brought together organisations from the city’s community, health, business and voluntary sectors.
Cllr Bayliss added: “The conference was designed to help each organisation share information about what they do, so that if someone in need approaches them and they’re not able to help them, they can point them to someone else who can.
“It also helped all of us to identify where there is a gap in support services and to start thinking about how we can fill it.”
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