Dear Parents
If you are entitled to Free School meals, please consider the following directions from the Department of Education.
Free School Meals Payment Scheme
On 26 March, the Communities Minister Deirdre Hargey and Education Minister Peter Weir announced plans to make sure families do not experience hardship as a result of schools closing.
The new scheme will see the introduction of direct payments to families whose children would usually benefit from a school meal. Almost 97,000 children in Northern Ireland are entitled to free school meals.
Families will receive £2.70 per child per day for each day of term the schools are closed. This money will be paid to families on a fortnightly basis starting from Monday, 23 March. Payments will begin to reach bank accounts from 1st April. Please be patient as the Education Authority is working round the clock to ensure payments are made as soon as possible and it is expected that the majority of people entitled to free school meals will receive payment by Friday 3rd April 2020.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Q. How do I apply for this financial assistance?
A. There is no need to apply. For the vast majority of families the payment will come automatically into bank accounts. For those families for whom the Education Authority (EA) does not hold bank accounts, the EA will send out text messages early next week– only to those families. They will then be directed to an online form on the EA website. There is no need for anyone to contact the Education Authority.
Q. Why are you paying families for free school meals over the Easter holidays when children do not normally receive free school meals?
A. We recognise the urgency with which these payments are required and the proximity to the Easter holidays. In order to avoid any further hardship we took the decision to cover the Easter period as well.
Q. If schools are closed until June will the funding continue over the summer months?
A. It is not the intention to continue the funding over the summer holiday period. However, we do recognise the need for support for vulnerable children over holiday periods and there is a need for a wider strategic approach to deal with so called “holiday hunger” - that is something the Department for Communities will work through with the Department for Education over the coming weeks.
Q. How do you know children will benefit from this financial assistance?
A. The vast majority of parents will ensure their children receive the care and nourishment their children need. We do recognise however there are some families who, for whatever reason, need extra support and that some children may not benefit from the funding and will need a safety net – that is why the Department for Communities plans will include support for these very vulnerable children and families.
Q. Why did you not just give people vouchers?
A. We did consider vouchers, as is happening in some other jurisdictions, however we know that the fastest, most efficient way of ensuring families do not face hardship as a result of schools being closed and therefore no free school meals being available, is a direct payment into their bank account.
Vouchers would work if there was easy access for people to the large supermarkets but it is much more difficult in rural country grocery stores or where there are small independent retailers. With the need for social distancing and the message to ‘Stay at Home’ we did not want people travelling distances to a supermarket which took the vouchers.
Q. How much will this cost?
A. Costs will of course be dependent on how long the schools are closed and not able to provide school meals. Should schools be closed until the end of June we expect the costs to be nearly £19M. However, if schools reopen before that then funding will stop immediately.
Q. Why can you not just take the money that would normally be paid to the Education Authority or schools for school meals and use that?
A. The vast majority of the cost of a school meal is made up of staffing costs and maintenance of school canteens. Indeed the actual cost of a school meal is around 70p. During this crisis we need to ensure catering staff continue to be paid therefore the free school meals funding will continue to go to EA to meet those costs. We must also remember that the EA and schools will lose income as there are no pupils paying for school meals – this helps to offset the costs associated with running a school meals service.
Q. If food costs are only around 70p why are you paying £2.70?
A. Parents are not able to bulk buy food stuffs in the way the EA or schools can therefore it would not be possible for parents to create a nourishing meal for around 70p.
Q. School meals in secondary schools cost £2.80 – why are you not giving parents that amount?
A. Costs of schools meals vary between Nursery (£2.50); primary (£2.60) and Secondary (£2.80). The figure of £2.70 across all sectors was selected to ensure a reasonable, consistent amount could be paid to all families in receipt of free school meals.
Q. If someone has just been made unemployed will they be entitled to free school meals if they have school age children?
A. Eligibility to Free School Meals is not changing, and anyone who meets the criteria and is in receipt of any of the qualifying benefits should apply for FSM in the normal way. The Department will work closely with the Department for Communities to identify new claimants with school aged children and encourage them to apply for free school meals. While schools remain closed during normal term time direct payments will be made for FSM.
Q. Will those children of key workers who are currently in school receive any help?
A. If those families are in receipt of FSM they will receive a direct payment.
Q. What safety nets are in place for more vulnerable children?
The Department for Communities will be announcing a number of additional measures to support provision of food and assistance to vulnerable groups.
These groups include, the 40, 000 people in the shielded group who are required to follow stringent self-isolating measures, vulnerable children and families who are entitled to free school meals and the wider group of vulnerable people in society who may struggle to get access to food supplies.
Q. Why have I not received a payment?
A. This is a major undertaking, involving thousands of payments in a completely new package of support and the Education Authority will make every effort to get these payments out to families as quickly as possible. We would ask everyone to bear with us as not all families may get the funding at the same time. We want to assure people that they will receive payments which will be backdated.
Q. I am worried about supplying my bank account details.
A. We intend to make this scheme as secure as possible. People should also be on the lookout for scams and we have taken advice from the PSNI. The Education Authority has sent a text message to those families for whom it does not hold bank details and will direct them to an online form on the EA website. Do not respond by Text
Q. I do not have a bank account, how will I receive the money?
A. We are aware that there are a number of parents/carers who do not have a bank account. We are working with the EA and Department for Communities to resolve this issue as quickly and as safely as possible.
