The Government has made a huge u-turn and will now supply free school meals during the summer holidays.
No 10 announced the U-turn and said vouchers would be available for vulnerable families over the summer holiday.
It comes as new figures show number of UK workers on payrolls fell by more than 600,000 in the early days of lockdown. Transport secretary Grant Shapps said “difficult days would lie ahead” if the economy did not pick up.
The fund will extend the current £15-a-week supermarket vouchers, handed to parents of poor children who can’t attend school due to the virus, for six weeks over the summer break.
The govt have put in an extra £120m into a one-off “Covid summer food fund”.
The vouchers will then come firmly to an end in September, when the government hopes all school pupils will be back in the classroom.
All those who currently qualify for free school meals due to their household income will qualify – the same criteria as for the current voucher system.
Rashford just Tweeted: “I don’t even know what to say. Just look at what we can do when we come together, THIS is England in 2020.”
On Monday Ministers said the food vouchers scheme parents have been relying on to feed their families through lockdown would “not run during the summer holidays”.
England striker Marcus Rashford said he would fight on for a u-turn after the Government confirmed it would not provide free school meal vouchers during the summer, and it seems he has changed govt policy.
Social Education
The 22-year-old has followed up with a column in The Times newspaper on Tuesday, addressing the meal voucher issue and the broader subject of childhood poverty.
“I don’t claim to have the education of an MP in parliament, but I do have a social education,” Mr Rashford wrote.
“I am clued up on the difference a U-turn decision would make on the 1.3 million vulnerable children across the UK who are registered for free school meals because ten years ago I was one of them.”
Gary Lineker, the Labour Party and other prominent figures joined footballer Marcus Rashford in calls for the Government to extend its free school meal voucher scheme through the summer holidays.
The Manchester United and England star penned an open letter this week asking the Government to reverse its decision to cease the scheme – for which nearly 1.3 million children are eligible – outside of school term time.
Related – ‘Shameful & disgusting’ response from Tory MP to Marcus Rashford