A POVERTY commission has hit out at the Government's decision not to continue support for all families in receipt of free school meals during the upcoming school summer holidays.

Responding to reports that ministers will not extend the national free school meal voucher scheme to cover the 2020 summer break, director of the North East Child Poverty Commission, Amanda Bailey, said: "The national free school meal voucher scheme has been far too restrictive and beset by problems – but by extending it to cover the recent half term and Easter holidays, the Government did at least acknowledge that low income families don't just require this support during term times.

"It is simply inconceivable that ministers think family budgets have improved since then, and this decision places many thousands of children and young people across the North East at risk of hunger and even greater hardship this summer.

"Equally concerning is the Government's belief that its summer holiday activities and food scheme is an adequate replacement as it stands.

"This will support around 50,000 children and young people across the whole of England, and there are more than 80,000 pupils in receipt of free school meals in the North East alone.

"On the Government's current plans, we know the majority of local areas in the North East won’t receive this funding – so what will happen to the tens of thousands of children across our region who will once again miss out?"

The North East has the highest percentage of pupils in receipt of free school meals at both primary and secondary age, with the latest available figures indicating that more than 80,000 children and young people across the region received this support - even before the devastating impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on family incomes.

Recent analysis of Government data by the End Child Poverty coalition has shown that the North East has seen the largest increase in child poverty in recent years, whilst the think tank IPPR this week forecast that a further 200,000 children across the country will have been pushed into poverty as a result of Covid-19.

In January, the Department for Education confirmed that it would again allocate £9m for free holiday activity and food programmes.

However, an answer to a written parliamentary question earlier this year confirmed that - for a £9 million England-wide pot - nine bids, worth more than £6 million were received from the North East alone.