Holiday support
Free school meal vouchers
Schools will be providing meal vouchers funded by the Department for Work and Pensions Household Support Fund. The system for schools to order the vouchers is open and will close on Friday 25 July 2025.
A one-off £50 supermarket voucher will be issued for each eligible free school meal child for the summer period. This will be issued by settings between June and July. Families will have three months to use the vouchers once issued.
Who will get the vouchers
The free school meal vouchers are for anyone in receipt of free school meals who are on roll with Essex Schools. This includes:
- children and young people aged 4 to 19 who are registered for free meals with their school or college
- children aged 2, 3 and 4 who are entitled to pupil premium or where the setting receives the IDACI funding supplement
- children aged 2 who are entitled to the funded early education entitlement for 2 year olds
In exceptional circumstances this will also apply to a child or young person in an independent special school outside of Essex. This must be part of a planned process to which the local authority has been party.
More information
These vouchers are separate from the free meals that your child receives during the school day.
For more information, visit the School Vouchers website.
Holiday clubs
Essex ActivAte is the Holiday Activity and Food programme run by Active Essex in partnership with Essex County Council and funded by the Department for Education. The Essex ActivAte programme offers free clubs for eligible children and young people during the school holidays. Booking usually opens on their website a few weeks before the holidays.