Somerset families offered Easter food vouchers after support scheme ends

Low-income families in Somerset will be able to apply for help with food costs during the Easter holidays through supermarket vouchers.

Somerset Council said applications could be made through the Citizens Advice Somerset website. The Easter support follows the end of a council scheme that had provided vouchers during every school holiday for the past five years to families of children eligible for benefits-related free school meals.

Matt Vella, head teacher of St Michael's Academy in Yeovil, said the application process needed to be "as clear and accessible as possible" to avoid adding stress for families.

Council response

Councillor Heather Shearer, Somerset Council's Liberal Democrat lead member for children, said the authority had to "move quickly" to create the Easter scheme after being told "very, very late in the day" by government that the previous support would end from April.

She said families who had received vouchers in the past would be eligible for help this Easter and urged them to contact Citizens Advice Somerset online or by phone. "We want people who had those vouchers before to have them again this Easter," she said.

The previous vouchers had been funded by the council through the Household Support Fund, a government-backed scheme that ran from October 2021 until March 2026.

Funding change

The Household Support Fund is being replaced by a Crisis and Resilience Fund, which will be paid to local councils over the next three years. Somerset Council has been allocated £21m over that period.

A Department for Work and Pensions spokesperson said the new national £1bn Crisis and Resilience Fund would act as a "genuine safety net helping to prevent families from falling into crises".

The spokesperson said local authorities would design schemes based on local needs and could choose to use the money for free school meals during school holidays if they considered that the right form of support.

Impact on families

As of January 2025, 15,285 children in Somerset were eligible for free school meals, representing 21.2% of pupils in the area.

Vella said the earlier holiday voucher scheme had given families "consistent access to nutritious meals" outside term time. He said St Michael's Academy served "one of the most deprived catchments in Somerset" and had previously warned that the change would hit the most vulnerable pupils the hardest.

He added that the Easter offer was "hugely valuable, especially at short notice".