Holiday Free School Meal vouchers

For the May/June half term, Gloucestershire County Council is providing vouchers to eligible families who have signed up to our Holiday Free School Meals (FSM) scheme. These vouchers are provided by Gloucestershire County Council as part of our commitment to ‘no child goes hungry’. The vouchers are funded through grant funding we have received and is separate to that of term time free school meals.

The scheme is for children in reception to year 11 who receive benefits-related free school meals and attend a school in Gloucestershire. We are unable to consider college and sixth form students, as well as children who receive universal free school meals, as they are not eligible for this scheme.

Families who have signed up to the scheme or who are already registered will receive a total of £15 per child.

Parents who have signed up previously do not need to re-register, they will already have been included. To ensure we reach all those who are eligible, we are encouraging parents that have not previously signed up, to sign up as soon as they can.

Please note we check eligibility for the scheme by cross-referencing with the term-time free school meal register, so please make sure you are registered beforehand. You can register by visiting the apply for free school meals page. If your school is one of the five that do not use this method, we will require confirmation from the school directly on your child(ren)’s eligibility. You can find more information on what schools these are on the same link to apply.

Vouchers will only be awarded once a parent has registered for the scheme and cannot be backdated. Vouchers are valid for six months, although should be used in the holiday period in which they are provided.

If vouchers are not claimed and have expired, they cannot be re-issued. If you do not receive your vouchers by the end of the holiday period, please email childrensfund@gloucestershire.gov.uk to raise this issue.

For any parents wishing to update details of an existing application, please email childrensfund@gloucestershire.gov.uk so we can update your account, as this not an automatic process.

If you have signed up previously you do not need to re-register. We are encouraging any parents not already signed up to do so as soon as they can.

Sign-up for the holiday FSM vouchers

When will the vouchers be sent out?

Voucher emails will be sent out on 22 May. Please check your junk/spam email folders during this period as sometimes the vouchers end up there.

If you have not received your vouchers by the 23 May please email childrensfund@gloucestershire.gov.uk. We experience a high volume of queries during this time but aim to respond to all queries within two working days. If you have not had a response from us by then, please do get in contact again.