A food grant (£13.50 a week) will be paid to all schoolchildren entitled to free school meals for Halloween, the Christmas holidays 2022 and the February half-term school holidays in 2023.
McIlveen said: “I am aware of the financial pressures that school holidays can have for parents on low incomes, especially during the current cost of living crisis we are experiencing. That is why I am allocating £5.5m to continue to extend the school holiday food grant, which will help provide further support to families at this time.
“This payment will help to ensure that around 100,000 of our children and young people can continue to access healthy, nutritious food, at a time when many families are already financially vulnerable. I hope confirmation of this continued payment will provide some reassurance to many parents on low incomes and help alleviate some of the pressure they are experiencing.”