Decision

The Council has been allocated £2.64m for each year from 2026/27 to 2028/29 from the Government’s Crisis and Resilience Fund. This is a new fund that replaces the Household Support Fund. It is intended to support low-income households who encounter a financial shock and to support activity that builds individual and community financial resilience. This funding includes specified funding for Housing Support which replaces the previous Discretionary Housing Payments.

Discussions have been held with relevant officers from Council departments and with colleagues from the voluntary sector organisations, to identify areas where the grant funding might be best targeted in line with the new guidance to meet the needs of the low-income and vulnerable residents in the Borough.

A Topic Group has been established of the Corporate & Inclusion PPB to oversee and consider how best to utilise the grant funding over the three year period. An initial meeting of the Topic Group was held on 06 July 2026 at which the approach was discussed on the basis of the report appended to this form.

Further work will be undertaken by officers and reported back to Corporate & Inclusion PPB on 01 September 2026.

In the meantime however, the Topic Group agreed a recommendation that Executive Board approve the continued provision of free school meal vouchers for all eligible pupils during the forthcoming Summer school holidays.

The vouchers would be for £12 per week for approximately 7,500 pupils for 6 weeks at a total cost of approximately £540,000.

Given the need to distribute the vouchers via schools before the school holidays, urgent approval is sought to enable the vouchers to be procured and distributed as soon as possible.

Reasons for the decision

The Topic Group considers the continued provision of free school meals vouchers during the Summer school holidays to be the most effective way of supporting the Borough’s most vulnerable children.