We will ensure children who are eligible for free school meals and other benefits receive them, helping to make a positive contribution to the wellbeing of those children.
Shetland Islands Council agreed to align the criteria for free school meals and clothing grant and to increase school clothing grant payments by 50% in the next financial year (2023-24) at its meeting in February 2023.
Funding to cover the additional cost of this is to be drawn from the Cost of Living Fund set up by the council in 2022 using some of the allocation of the net revenue generated by Scottish Crown Estate assets.
In November 2022, the council’s Education and Families Committee considered a report setting out the costs of providing free school meals to all pupils in Shetland, as well as other options, and the associated cost implications. The report noted the Scottish Government’s intention to delay the roll out of universal free school meals provision for P6 and P7 and highlighted that all other local authorities provide universal free school meals up to P5 due to this funding delay. 341 pupils accessed free school meals in Shetland at the time of report writing and 470 pupils accessed the school clothing grant, increasing to 360 and 514 respectively by January 2023.
At that time elected members agreed to investigate aligning payment for free school meals to the school clothing grant criteria and increasing the payments by 50 per cent for school clothing grants, to help deal with the additional cost of living in Shetland.
A parent and carer survey was also undertaken during February 2022 to gather feedback from all free school meals and clothing grant applicants during the 2021-22 school year on the application process . 116 responses were received and questions were asked on:
- How did you hear about the clothing grant and free school meals?
- Did you find the application process straightforward?
- Is the free school meal entitlement used?
- Have free school meals had a positive effect on the child(ren) and family overall?
The responses from applicants was useful in helping to make changes to the application process and how information about the services is promoted. In June 2022, when applications opened for the 2022-23 academic year, some of the high-level results from the survey were shared with current applicants, and the actions taken as a result will also be shared.