Latest news with #foodvouchers
The Sun
25-06-2025
- Business
- The Sun
Thousands of families can get free meal vouchers worth £500 over school holidays – check if you need to apply
THOUSANDS of families can get free meal and food vouchers worth £500 over the school holidays. The help comes via the whopping £742million Household Support Fund (HSF) which has been shared between councils in England. 1 Local authorities are currently in the process of deciding who to distribute help to and what form it will take. Support is usually offered to those on a low income, benefits or classed as vulnerable. Some councils are paying money directly into eligible households' bank accounts while others are issuing energy vouchers. But some are giving hard-up families free meal or food vouchers over the summer holidays. Here are all the councils distributing help. Bristol City Council Bristol City Council has confirmed it will give vouchers to free school meal and Pupil Premium children during all school holidays until at least March 2026. The local authority says vouchers will be sent from the school by email. Anyone who doesn't receive them should contact their school directly to find out when they will be sent. The council has not revealed how much the vouchers are worth. However, £30 vouchers were issued over the two-week Christmas break so are likely to be worth more over the summer holidays. You can find out more information via Ribble Valley Borough Council Ribble Valley Borough Council has opened its latest round of HSF and is offering households payments worth hundreds of pounds. Households with a combined income of less than £35,000 per year can apply for food vouchers ranging from £200 to £500. Vouchers are being distributed on a first-come-first-serve basis with only one application allowed per household. Priority is being given to new applicants, with households who received a voucher through the HSF round that ran between April and September 2024 only able to apply through this round from October. You can find out more via Hartlepool Borough Council Hartlepool Borough Council is awarding £100 food vouchers to hard-up households. The vouchers are being distributed to families where a child is aged between two and 19 and eligible for free school meals. You can find out more about the latest round of HSF on the council's website Tameside Council Tameside Council is spending around 60% of its HSF allocation on school holiday meal vouchers worth £15 a week. Pupils in post-16 education at Tameside College or Ashton Sixth Form won't be eligible for vouchers. Further details are yet to be revealed by the council, however any updates will be posted on its website. Visit for further information. Bracknell Forest Council Bracknell Forest Council is taking applications for cost of living vouchers for families with children on free school meals. Supermarket vouchers are being issued automatically through schools. The council has not said how much the vouchers are worth. Kent County Council Kent County Council is running a "summer food voucher scheme", worth £90 to eligible households. The scheme will stay open until August but may close earlier if all available funds are allocated. You can refer yourself to the scheme or be referred by someone else. You have to meet certain criteria to qualify for help through the scheme. This includes being aged 16 or over, living in Kent, receiving means-tested benefits or having a household income of £33,000 or less a year. You also cannot apply if you have a child on free school meals. Further details can be found via Can I get help if I live outside these areas? Put simply, yes. However, it will depend on your circumstances and where you live. The Household Support Fund was set up to help households cover essentials such as energy or water bills and food costs. But, each council can set its own eligibility criteria meaning whether you qualify for help is a postcode lottery. That said, funding is aimed at anyone who's vulnerable or struggling to pay for essentials. So, if you are financially hard-up or on benefits, it is likely you will be able to get help. It's worth bearing in mind, any help you receive via the Household Support Fund won't affect your benefit payments. Some councils are allocating their share of the fund to community groups and charities who you have to get in touch with. If you're on benefits, have limited savings, or are struggling to cover food and energy bills, it's worth seeing if you're eligible for help. You can find out more via Household Support Fund explained Sun Savers Editor Lana Clements explains what you need to know about the Household Support Fund. If you're battling to afford energy and water bills, food or other essential items and services, the Household Support Fund can act as a vital lifeline. The financial support is a little-known way for struggling families to get extra help with the cost of living. Every council in England has been given a share of £742million cash by the government to distribute to local low income households. Each local authority chooses how to pass on the support. Some offer vouchers whereas others give direct cash payments. In many instances, the value of support is worth hundreds of pounds to individual families. Just as the support varies between councils, so does the criteria for qualifying. Many councils offer the help to households on selected benefits or they may base help on the level of household income. The key is to get in touch with your local authority to see exactly what support is on offer. The current round runs until the end of March 2026.
The Sun
23-06-2025
- Business
- The Sun
Hard-up households can apply for food vouchers worth up to £500 now – check if you qualify
SELECT UK households will be eligable for free food vouchers worth up to £500. The financial aid is part of the latest round of a Government scheme, and is designed to help hard-up families. 1 The fund will help residents of Ribble Valley who are deemed eligible, with applications now open. This latest round (HSF7) of the Government's Household Support Fund will see thousands of pounds given to those who need it. Ribble Valley Borough Council has received £158,983 to issue to local residents who meet the funding criteria. Households who need financial help and have a combined household income of less than £35,000 per year can apply for a food voucher. These vouchers will range in value from £200 to £500, depending on circumstances. Nicola Hopkins, the council's director of economic development and planning, spoke about the latest round of the iniative, which is designed to help with the rising cost of living. 'This latest round of funding will provide further much-needed support to local vulnerable residents who are most in need of help with the cost of essentials," she said. The scheme will run while funding is available and vouchers will be distributed on a first-come basis. So if you're a resident of Ribble Valley, check now to see if you qualify for this financial assistance. Only one application can be made per household. Priority is being given to new applicants, with households who received a voucher through HSF5 (April 2024-September 2024) only being eligible for HSF7 from October 1. Meanwhile, anyone who received a voucher as part of the HSF6 round (October 2024-March 2025) will not be eligible to apply for this latest round of vouchers. A series of vouchers are available as part of the scheme, depending on your household set-up. Vouchers worth £200 will be alotted to single households, while £300 will be given to households with two or more adults. Household with children, including any person under the age of 19 at the time of the award or a person aged 19 or over who is the subject of a child-related benefit, will receive a voucher worth £500. Cost of living payments: what you need to know HSF was introduced in October 2021 and there have been several rounds of funding since then. In October 2024, the Government announced that HSF would be extended nationwide for a further 12 months, from April 2025. Under HSF6, almost 300 households in Ribble Valley were issued supermarket vouchers totalling nearly £100,000.
Zawya
28-05-2025
- Business
- Zawya
SmartSwitch Botswana brings financial inclusion to thousands of food grant recipients
SmartSwitch Botswana is blazing a trail for financial inclusion with a financial technology (Fintech) solution that puts dignity and financial services into food voucher beneficiaries' hands. Since it was established in 2006, Smart Switch has grown its footprint to more than 75 000 beneficiaries in underserved communities across Botswana. SmartSwitch Botswana, a subsidiary of Lesaka Technologies, was founded with the exclusive rights to deploy Botswana's Universal Electronic Payment System (UEPS). The UEPS has also been embraced and approved by the central banks of countries such as Namibia, Ghana, and South Africa as an accredited national payment system. At the heart of the offering is a secure, biometric-enabled smart card platform designed for the unbanked and underbanked. The system enables food grant recipients to safely receive, store, and spend funds at local merchant outlets while earning interest on unspent balances. The solution was developed in response to a Ministry of Local Government tender to overhaul Botswana's paper-based food basket system. The previous system—marked by inefficiencies, lack of choice, and social stigma—was failing the people it was meant to help. The tender had two main goals. Firstly, the Ministry of Local Government wanted to empower beneficiaries with choice in the food they acquired, when they could collect their food, and where they could collect their food. The second aim was to provide a dignified alternative to the stigma associated with the earlier system. 'Although we applied cutting-edge technology to the challenge, we also knew we needed to create a deeply human solution to address the audience's needs,' says France Mabiletsa, Managing Director of SmartSwitch Botswana. 'We had to provide beneficiaries with choice and restore their dignity.' Today, those goals have been exceeded. Beneficiaries no longer need to queue in the sun with wheelbarrows to collect pre-packaged goods. Beneficiaries receive a monthly allowance on a SmartSwitch card, which they can use at over 1,200 local shops, ranging from general dealers to corner stores. Each transaction is authenticated through biometric verification, ensuring security and privacy. The card looks like a bank-issued debit card, so it isn't apparent they are food allowance beneficiaries. In the first three years after implementation, more than 50,000 people, many of whom had never engaged with a financial institution, were integrated into Botswana's financial ecosystem. Today, over 75,000 beneficiaries have access to these smart banking tools, which include secure, offline-capable transactions via biometric-enabled POS devices The solution is equally transformative for merchants. Payments are settled within 48 hours, improving liquidity. Competition among stores has improved service quality, benefiting end users. 'The system has helped our business grow. We serve more customers, and we get paid quickly and securely,' said Kennete Mmusinyane of Obed Supermarket in Gumare in the Okavango District. With a track record of reliable delivery and innovation, SmartSwitch is gearing up for the next phase of its development. As the government prepares to issue a new tender, SmartSwitch has plans to introduce enhanced services and upgraded devices to further support beneficiaries and retailers. 'We're not standing still. We're reinvesting in the system to do more for more people,' says Mabiletsa. 'It is our aim to continue to be a trusted partner to the government, a reliable ally to merchants, and a gateway to dignity, choice, and empowerment for thousands of people in Botswana.' SmartSwitch is a member of Lesaka Technologies ( Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Kazang. About Kazang: Kazang ( is a leading provider of cash and digital solutions to merchants in Southern Africa's informal economies. Our fintech solutions include a diverse range of value-added services (VAS), card acquiring, secure cash vaults and supplier payments platforms. Operating with a network of approximately 90,000 active devices, we process approximately 2.2 million transactions daily in markets such as South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, and Zambia. We are dedicated to helping small and medium merchants grow and succeed, through increasing their sales, making their businesses more efficient and reducing their risks with our holistic portfolio of products and services. Kazang is a member of Lesaka Technologies ( About Lesaka Technologies, Inc: The Connect Group and Kazang was acquired by Lesaka Technologies, Inc. in April 2022. Lesaka Technologies, (Lesaka™) is a South African Fintech company that utilizes its proprietary banking and payment technologies to deliver superior financial services solutions to merchants (B2B) and consumers (B2C) in Southern Africa. Lesaka's mission is to drive true financial inclusion for both merchant and consumer markets through offering affordable financial services to previously underserved sectors of the economy. Lesaka offers cash management solutions, growth capital, card acquiring, bill payment technologies and value-added services to retail merchants as well as banking, lending, and insurance solutions to consumers across Southern Africa. Lesaka has a primary listing on NASDAQ (NasdaqGS: LSAK) and a secondary listing on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE: LSK). Visit for additional information about Lesaka Technologies (Lesaka ™). $LSK / $LSAK
