The DWP says Harrow's holiday vouchers for about 7,000 children break its rules. Half term starts 26 October and the council is still waiting for an answer.
Harrow’s holiday food vouchers for children on free school meals may not survive past this summer. The Department for Work and Pensions has told the council that its plan to keep paying them breaks the rules of the fund meant to cover the cost.
October half term starts on Monday 26 October. The council says it has still not had a definitive answer.
The dispute is set out in a report noted by Harrow’s Cabinet on 24 September. About 7,000 children in the borough are eligible for free school meals, the report says. Keeping their holiday vouchers going would cost about £1.4 million a year.
What the council wants to do
Harrow has paid holiday vouchers to families on free school meals since the Household Support Fund began in 2021. That fund has been replaced by the government’s Crisis and Resilience Fund, which runs from April 2026 to March 2029.
Harrow’s share is £10,366,389.93, which must be spent or committed by 31 March 2029, according to the Cabinet report. Cabinet agreed on 9 July to carry on the holiday vouchers from that money, and the plan went to the DWP the same month.
What the DWP said
In late July, the report says, DWP officials told the council the vouchers did not fit the principles of the fund’s guidance. Their view was that this kind of support was expected to end from the start of the 2026/27 school year. The council was asked to revise its plans.
The exchange that followed, according to the report:
- late July: the DWP raises the free school meals element and asks Harrow to change it
- 13 August: the DWP repeats that Harrow’s proposals do not meet the guidance
- 27 August: the council challenges that reading and asks for “absolute clarity” on whether the vouchers would be funded
- 1 September: the Leader, Councillor Paul Osborn, writes to the Secretary of State and to local MPs
- 24 September: Cabinet notes the position; no further reply had come when the papers were published
The council has also asked the DWP to confirm that vouchers for the October half term and the Christmas holidays will be allowed.
What the rules actually say
Both sides are reading the same sentence. Paragraph 44 of the government’s guidance for the fund tells councils to use their discretion “to ensure the poorest children do not go hungry in the school holidays”. It then says:
“This may or may not be through the blanket provision of vouchers to those on free-school meals, as we recognise that some Free School Meal eligible families may not routinely need crisis support during every school holiday.”
The DWP reads that as a push away from blanket vouchers. Harrow reads it as permission to keep them.
What the Leader’s letter says
Councillor Osborn’s letter of 1 September to Pat McFadden, the Work and Pensions Secretary, says the guidance “does not prohibit” the vouchers. He argues free school meal eligibility is already a national means test. Picking out a smaller group of families instead “would be costly and risks missing out children who have already been identified as in need of support”, he writes.
The letter says the approach has had cross-party support in Harrow since 2021. It ends with a direct question: “Are we, or are we not, permitted to apply the fund in the way that we propose to do?”
He also asks for an answer quickly. “If FSM holiday support is not to be permitted, we will need to communicate that decision to schools and affected families at the earliest opportunity,” he writes.
What happens next
The report lists the options the council may face once the DWP replies:
- carry on with the vouchers as planned
- end holiday free school meal support
- some transitional or alternative arrangement
The council rates the risk to low-income families as amber on its own scale. If the DWP rules the vouchers ineligible, it says it will revisit the delivery plan and signpost families to other help.
What it means for you
If your child gets free school meals, nothing has been announced yet for half term. The council’s Crisis and Resilience Fund page still says holiday vouchers will continue. It says there is no need to apply, and that schools hand out the vouchers to eligible families. Your school is the first place to ask.
If your child does not get free school meals but might qualify, you can apply online through the council. Its page says families on Universal Credit qualify regardless of household income. You need the parent’s, child’s and school’s details.
If you are in immediate financial difficulty, the same fund pays for a separate Crisis Payment scheme. Citizens Advice Harrow processes applications for the council. You must live in Harrow and pay energy bills for your home, supply three months of bank statements, and not have had a Crisis Payment in the last six months.
Half term and Christmas dates for every Harrow school are on our school term dates page. We will update this story when the DWP replies or the council tells schools what happens in October.
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