By Friday 31 March, we will make a payment to parents and carers of children and young people attending primary or secondary school and who qualify for free school meals based on family circumstances.
£27.00 per child will be put into bank accounts to cover the 2 week Easter holiday and 2 previous strike days.
Payments are only made to families who qualify (are on certain benefits) and who have already applied for free school meals for this school year (August 2022 to June 2023).
Children in primary classes 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 are all entitled to a school meal regardless of their circumstances. That means parents with children in these classes will only receive a payment if:
• the child’s family qualify based on their circumstances (are on certain benefits)
• the parent has already applied for free school meals for this school year (August 2022 to June 2023).
If you’ve already applied, please don’t apply again. You will receive your payment automatically.
Since 14 November 2022, all families with children or teenagers aged under 16 can apply for the Scottish Child Payment—delivered by Scottish Government—if they met the criteria. This means the bridging payments that were part of the previous school breaks payments are no longer being paid through councils.
We encourage everyone to check if they meet the criteria and apply for the Scottish Child Payment and any other benefits by going to the Social Security Scotland website.
If you can’t apply for any of these benefits or are struggling to pay bills or have money worries, you can also speak to our helpful Advice Works team who can give you free and confidential help and support.
Search ‘Advice Works’ on our website.
