Freedom of information response
Free school meals
I am sending this request under the Freedom of Information Act to ask for the following information:
What provision during the summer holidays 2023 is available for children who are ordinarily eligible for free school meals?
What is the budget allocated for this year’s scheme?
How many children are eligible for the support?
How much money has been allocated per child?
What is the eligibility criteria for the support?
What provision during the summer holidays 2023 is available for children who are ordinarily eligible for free school meals?
- 20 Primary School Clubs
- 8 Secondary School Clubs.
- 2 SEND Clubs
- 3 Mental Wellbeing Specialist Hubs.
Which equates to 745 spaces daily
15,560 Total spaces across the Summer Holidays
What is the budget allocated for this year’s scheme?
For Summer HAF, the budget for Thurrock is £356,250
How many children are eligible for the support?
In Thurrock we have around 5,300 Children on Benefit Based Free School Meals. We aim for around 12% of these children which fits with the funding allocated by the DFE.
How much money has been allocated per child?
On average £22.90 per child – however this is dependent on the club. SEND specialist clubs pay a higher cost per head / main stream schools lower.
What is the eligibility criteria for the support?
Children must receive benefit based free school meals with 15% of the funding being a discretionary fund for children on low income, at risk, in care or refugees.
You are free to use any information supplied to you for your own use, including non-commercial research purposes. However, any other type of re-use, for example, by publishing the information or issuing copies to the public will require the permission of the copyright owner.
Where the copyright is owned by Thurrock Council, you must apply to the Council to re-use the information. Please email information.matters@thurrock.gov.uk if you wish to re-use the information you have been supplied. For information where the copyright is owned by another person or organisation, you must apply to the copyright owner to obtain their permission.
If you are dissatisfied with the way in which the council have managed your FOI request you can pursue an Internal Review by contacting us using the above email address. Your request will be considered by a senior member of the Information Management Team who will update you with the outcome of the review.
If you remain unhappy following the outcome of your Internal Review you may wish to refer your case to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) and details of this organisation can be found at www.ico.org.uk . Please be advised that the ICO will not consider your case until they have confirmation that you have already been through the Internal Review stage with the council.