The Leader of Bolton Council, Cllr David Greenhalgh, has confirmed that families in receipt of free school meals will be supported during the half term holiday by the local authority. This is fully costed proposal and confirms the additional investment in the Bolton Fund to support children and families over the holidays to put food on their tables. This is in addition to longstanding assistance the council has provided for some time.
The fund will be made immediately available via local groups to support children and families who would ordinarily be in receipt of free school meals during the week.
Cllr David Greenhalgh said: "This is absolutely the right thing to do. Bolton Council will not let children go hungry over the half term break and this is consistent with our ongoing policy to support the most vulnerable across the whole of the borough. This is on top of our main food support which is via our Local Welfare Provision Scheme and our Humanitarian response.
“In terms of Local Welfare Provision, anyone claiming that meets the criteria would automatically be awarded four food packages over a period of four weeks. In terms of the covid-19 helpline and humanitarian offer we can also provide food via the food hub run by Urban Outreach if families are in financial difficulty.
“Through a DEFRA grant, we have also recently prioritised children and families, by giving £250,000 to the Bolton's Fund for community groups and organisations which prioritise those areas to apply for who have schemes that tackle child poverty, support parenting through emotional and practical advice and offer food parcels, and household goods."
“The administration set the wheels in motion first thing on Friday morning and I would like to thank officers who have worked speedily to get processes in place to allow us to activate these initiatives from Monday.
“The response from the borough has been phenomenal and nothing less than I would expect with everyone rallying to the cause.
"If any individual or business who is raising funds or making parcels needs advice on how best to make sure their efforts are targeted to those families most in need, our officers are ready to help.”
