ALMOST 4,000 children are to benefit from free school meals during the holidays until Easter thanks to a £300,000 support package.

Councillors have unanimously agreed to provide additional funding to allow payments to be made direct to families outwith term time to help keep food on the table during these difficult times.

Around 3,750 children are expected to benefit.

Parents of pupils who receive free school meals will receive £35 per child at Easter to cover the February half term and Easter breaks.

It is expected to cost around £132,000.

The Easter holiday subsidy is in addition to a £50 per child grant to help eligible families cover the costs of the October and Christmas breaks and £188,000 has been set aside for this purpose.

This council has increased the previously approved payment by £10 in recognition of the additional financial pressures on households this year.

Council leader Stephen McCabe said: “Times are incredibly tough for families across Inverclyde and they need our support now more than ever.

“We’ve shown a commitment to helping our young people and their parents and carers throughout the pandemic and I’m delighted that this will continue until Easter.”

The payments are for pupils who are in receipt of free school meals and a clothing grant.

The whole scheme, covering the October, Easter and Christmas holiday periods, is expected to cost £320,000 in total.

It will be paid for from Inverclyde’s share of the financial hardship grant recently announced by the Scottish Government, which supplements a new annual £1m anti-poverty fund set up by the council and the Inverclyde Integration Joint Board (IJB).

Since the start of the pandemic in March, the council has ensured that free school meals continue during term time and the holidays.

They initially set up packed lunch hubs and provided food bags before switching to fortnightly payments made direct to parents.