Eligible Southport families can use vouchers, worth £15 per child per week, to buy food at half term

Once again, Sefton Council will be supporting local families over the forthcoming half-term holiday by providing meal vouchers.

Eligible Sefton families can use the vouchers, worth £15 per child per week, to buy food in-store and online at local supermarkets.

Cllr Trish Hardy, Sefton Council’s Cabinet Member for Communities and Housing said:

“With local families struggling to cope with the spiralling cost-of-living, I am pleased that Sefton Council has again been able to act decisively by stepping in to provide them with direct help through these holiday vouchers.

“This additional £15 per week for each eligible child will help families manage over this difficult period but if people are experiencing severe hardship, a disaster or emergency, details of our Emergency Limited Assistance Scheme can be found at www.sefton.gov.uk/elas.”

Sefton Families that don’t receive free school meals at the moment but think they might qualify should visit www.sefton.gov.uk/freeschoolmeals.

The half-term vouchers, which the Council is providing through its Household Support Grant funding allocation from the Department of Work and Pensions, are for buying food and essentials only. They cannot be used to purchase alcohol, tobacco, lottery tickets, phone top-ups or stamps.

Cllr Hardy added:

“In addition to the school meals vouchers, we have now paid out over £9.8 million of the one-off, £150 Council Tax Energy rebate payments to the almost 67,000 eligible Council Tax Band A to D households, which will also provide them with some help.

“And, over 20,600 households have responded to the letter we sent them by using the secure code to provide their details and register to receive the payment.

“I would urge anyone who has received the letter to register today, and if they have any concerns about the process to visit  www.sefton.gov.uk/energyrebate where they can find out more.”