Free School Meals - February Half Term & Easter Holidays

Dear Families

Important information regarding Household Support Fund discretionary grant

Suffolk County Council (SCC) is pleased to confirm that the Government announced a further extension to the Household Support Fund from April 2025 to March 2026.

Whilst there was a £1.2 million reduction in the funding allocation to SCC from the Government, we can confirm that SCC will be providing vouchers for the upcoming February half term and Easter Holidays 2026.

We want to ensure that families are aware that there may be further reductions in Government funding in the future. This could impact SCC’s ability to provide discretionary vouchers after March 2026.

Each eligible child will receive a £45 supermarket voucher, provided by Pluxee, to help families with essential living costs. Please note: this single voucher is intended to cover two holiday periods - the February half-term and the Easter holidays.

Please be reminded that all vouchers have a 2-month expiry period and must be redeemed within this time. Unfortunately, vouchers cannot be reissued once they have expired.

Once redeemed, the expiry conditions of your chosen supermarket will apply, and you will have at minimum 12 months to use the voucher. Therefore, it is vital you redeem the voucher promptly, even if you wish to spend it later.

If you experience any issues redeeming your voucher or have not received it by the start of the school holidays, we strongly urge you to contact our team as soon as possible to avoid missing the redemption deadline.

As with previous issues of vouchers, the SCC Free School Meals (FSM) team will place the voucher order using the information provided by your child's school. Please ensure that your child’s school holds the most up to date contact information for you, so that the voucher is sent to the correct recipient.

If the school has previously printed the vouchers on your behalf, then this arrangement will continue, or you can ask for the voucher to be sent via text message to your mobile phone number. Please inform your school if you wish to receive the vouchers via text message, if you have previously been unable to receive them via email.

We aim to have all vouchers sent to recipients by Thursday 13 February 2026. If you have not received the vouchers by this date or in the event of any queries regarding the vouchers, then please contact our team at freeschoolmeals@suffolk.gov.uk, rather than speaking to the school directly.

Please note that if you have children attending different Suffolk schools, voucher orders may be processed at different times. As a result, you may receive your vouchers separately.

If you have more than one child at the same school, you will only receive one email, and the additional vouchers will be visible once you click on the redemption link.

Please look out for an email from noresponse@vouchers.pluxee.uk, and please also check junk and spam folders before contacting us directly.

We hope that this discretionary grant goes some way to help in supporting your family during the school holiday, whether buying food or freeing up some income to go towards energy and water bills or other essential living costs.

If you are financially struggling and require additional support, further information can be found at: www.suffolk.gov.uk/community-and-safety/communities/healthier/costof-living-support/.

Yours faithfully

Lucy Nicholas (she/her)

Resource Manager (Admissions and School Travel)

Directorate of Children and Young People