Households in Edinburgh struggling financially amid the cost of living crisis can get school grants to help with the cost of lunches and school clothing.
With budgets being stretched increasingly thin, and with the energy price cap set to soar in October, families across Scotland are looking for ways to cut back costs wherever possible.
Edinburgh Council offers a range of support to households with children who attend primary and secondary schools, including free school meals, payment for lunches during school holidays, free milk, a school clothing grant to help buy school clothes, and a Scottish Child Bridging payment.
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According to the Edinburgh Council website, it carried out an annual exercise in early July 2022 to identify families who would be entitled to school grants, using information they held about their benefits. These families were contacted on July 14 with further information.
However, even if you were not contacted, you may still be eligible. If you match the conditions for free school meals on the Scottish Government website you may be eligible for the help.
Your child can get free lunches in school if you get any of the following:
- Universal Credit (where your monthly earned income is not more than £660)
- Income Support
- income-based Job Seeker's Allowance
- income-based Employment and Support Allowance
- support under Part VI of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999
Your child is also entitled to free school lunches if you get:
- Child Tax Credit, but not Working Tax Credit, and your income is less than £17,005
- both Child Tax Credit and Working Tax Credit and have an income of up to £7,920
Cllr Mandy Watt, Finance and Resources Convener for the City of Edinburgh Council, said: “We know the importance of providing support ahead of the new school session to families on low incomes and have a range of different financial initiatives to help families such as school uniform grants, free school meals and child bridging payments.
“Our school clothing grant provides a real financial boost for those in and at most risk of poverty as having their school uniform paid for helps ease some of the financial burden families experience especially when it comes to rising food and energy costs.
“We’ve been providing these grants for many years and in the 2021/22 school year we increased the clothing grant to £120 for primary pupils and £150 for secondary pupils. In the last school year we provided school clothing grants to 8,994 children meaning £1,192,470 of funding has gone directly to those most in need. This important work continues with payments made last week for the coming school year to eligible households and new applications can be made online at https://www.edinburgh.gov.uk/food-clothing/free-school-meals-school-clothing-grants/1 .
“There’s a lot of great work happening in our schools to tackle child poverty and the costs of school uniforms. Dozens of our schools provide a range of supports including using Pupil Equity Funding, uniform ‘swap shops’, ‘reuse and recycle’ stalls and have strong links with services that help families access grants.”
If you apply on or before 30 September 2022, Edinburgh Council will backdate your Free School Meals award to the start of term - 17 August 2022. If you apply after 30 September 2022, it will award Free School Meals from the date it receives your application.
For more information about how to apply, visit the Edinburgh Council website here.
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