THE council has stepped in to provide children who are entitled to free school meals with food vouchers during half term.

City of York Council will provide food for more than 2,850 vulnerable children - after the Government refused to back calls for the scheme to be extended.

A Labour motion to back footballer Marcus Rashford's campaign to offer meal vouchers for struggling families was voted down in Parliament this week.

York has put £43,000 of emergency funding toward continuing meal vouchers for children who usually receive free school meals in term time.

Keith Aspden, leader of City of York Council said: “This has been a difficult year for everyone and as a council, we have been doing everything we can to support local residents.

“We want to ensure that children who receive Free School Meals don’t go hungry this half-term. Nearly 3,000 children can access this support, with vouchers of £15 per child provided to all who are eligible for free school meals.

“Staff at the city’s schools have been incredible in supporting children and families and once again they are stepping up to help administer this programme. I am incredibly grateful for all they are doing.”

Cllr Bob Webb, from the Labour group, praised the move and added: “This agreement appears to follow a number of other councils nationally in addressing holiday hunger for October half term, but we must find a longer term solution to the problem of kids going hungry when schools are closed.

“So Labour will still be proposing an emergency motion to next week’s council meeting for all councillors to consider how we address this problem over the Christmas holidays and beyond.  We hope other parties will recognise the importance of this issue and work with us to find a solution.”