Bracknell Forest Council
Record of Decision
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Work Programme Reference
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I106681 |
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1. |
TITLE: |
Household Support Fund - May Allocation
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2. |
SERVICE AREA: |
Chief Executive's Office
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3. |
PURPOSE OF DECISION
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To agree the distribution for the Household Support Fund during the interim May 2022 period, until the full plan for distribution is agreed.
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IS KEY DECISION |
Yes
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5. |
DECISION MADE BY: |
Executive Member for Children, Young People & Learning
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6. |
DECISION:
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i. the purchase of supermarket vouchers for all Free School Meal (FSM) eligible children attending Bracknell Forest Schools, including equivalent under-fives living in the borough at the value of £15 per child, per week, for one week of May Half Term holidays is approved.
ii. the purchase of supermarket vouchers, or direct payment to schools as pre-agree (using approximately £42,000 of funding) through the existing contract holder Blackhawk incentives is approved.
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7. |
REASON FOR DECISION
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1. The council was notified of the extension to the Household Support fund on 1 April 2022. The vouchers must be purchased urgently to be received by families before the May Half Term (30 May – 3 June). These recommendations allow the council to extend the previous offer of school holiday vouchers to the same cohort of children, using the same process as before, working closely with schools and early years settings. It is expected that these vouchers will support food costs for around 2,800 children.
2. Full proposals for the Household Support Fund will be discussed and presented to Executive in May. However, this would not be in time for the May half term period, hence the Executive Member decision requested here
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8. |
ALTERNATIVE OPTIONS CONSIDERED
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The funding provided does not have to be used for May half term vouchers, although there are specific conditions that the distribution of funding must meet including at least one third of the funding being allocated to families with children. Therefore, if these recommendations are refused, an alternative proposal could be developed. However, in considering all the options for previous tranches of this funding since December 2020, it was agreed that supermarket vouchers over the school holiday would be a suitable use.
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9. |
DOCUMENT CONSIDERED: |
Report of the
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10. |
DECLARED CONFLICTS OF INTEREST: |
None
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Date Decision Made |
Final Day of Call-in Period |
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4 May 2022 |
11 May 2022 |
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