Issue details

As part of Chancellor Rishi Sunak's Spring Statement, on 23 March 2022, it was announced that there would be a ‘doubling’ of the Household Support Fund that was due to end on 31 March 2022, meaning that a further £500 million (£421m for England) would be released to councils, to support those most in need with the cost of food, energy and water bills, phone, broadband and clothing and in exceptional cases, housing costs.
Due to lack of notice given by government and the impending Easter holidays, the Council has used a proportion of the new estimated £4m grant, to assist 22,000 Free School Meal/Pupil Premium children during the Easter period, by awarding a £30 voucher in respect of each child. The spend accounts for £660k of the allocation for these 2 weeks. This commitment is in line with previous support provided to these children for most school holidays since October 2020, by Bristol City Council.
The contract supplier has been chosen using the CSS framework and is a continuation of an existing and well-established good quality provision by them.
It was not reasonably practicable to await the next Cabinet meeting on 5th April due to the arrangements that need to be put in place beforehand to be able to have this in place by the start of the holidays. There was a clear and pressing urgent need for this decision to be taken to enable the free school meal vouchers to be available for the Easter school holidays.