Marcus Rashford campaign: £750k pledged to support Peterborough families over winter

The city council has received £743,662 from the Winter Grant scheme to be spent supporting families so they do not go hungry or cold.

Priority groups for the funding will be families who have children who are:

. Eligible for free school meals

. Eligible for the 16 to 19 Bursary Fund

. In receipt of the Early Years Pupil Premium

. Accessing free education and childcare for two-year-olds.

They will automatically receive food vouchers worth £15 per week over the two week Christmas break and for the one week February half term.

The vouchers can be used at:

. Asda

. Aldi

. Morrisons

. Sainsbury’s

. Tesco

. Iceland

. McColl’s

. Waitrose.

Parents will receive the vouchers via email or text message, while it is also possible for schools to print the vouchers.

The council expects the vouchers will be worth approximately £532,710, with the remainder of the money being spent supporting other residents, including young carers, care leavers and those with Educational Health and Care Plans.

Late receival of the funding before the end of the school term on December 18 means the authority has not had time to carry out a tender exercise to decide who should distribute the vouchers.

Instead, it is entering into an agreement with a provider called Wonde which is already being used by 80 per cent of city schools.

The council said: “We have reached this decision as this substantially reduces the administrative burden and associated cost on both the local authority and our schools which means more resources can be allocated for families.”

The Government agreed to spend more than £400 million to support poor children and their families in England - including £170 million ring-fenced for councils - following a campaign by Manchester United footballer Marcus Rashford.

This is expected to improve the lives of almost 1.7 million children across the country.