Isle of Man Foodbank calls for summer holiday meal voucher return

A food voucher scheme for children on free school meals should be revived to help tackle holiday hunger, a charity's chief executive has said.

Director of the Isle of Man Foodbank, Neal Mellon, said the charity would now have "families with hungry kids coming in" as the summer holidays begin this week.

More than 2,000 children on the island received the vouchers last summer.

A government spokesman said it was not planning to reintroduce the scheme.

The system was initially set up to replace meals served in schools when they first closed due to the Covid-19 pandemic and then the scheme was extended through the holidays.

Mr Mellon said the impact of the pandemic meant it had been a busy 18 months for the Braddan-based foodbank.

"At the time that we needed the most food for the biggest population we ever had needing help, we had the least food coming in," he said.

He said the government had "made the right decision, at the right time" last year ahead of the summer holidays, and it was "never too late" to take similar action this year.

A government spokesman said funding was not available to reintroduce the scheme.

A public consultation on the vouchers published in June revealed that one of the biggest setbacks for families struggling to afford food was the cost of school uniforms, he said.

He added that Tynwald members had supported a "broad strategy to eradicate poverty on our island" in July.

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