| SPOTLIGHT |
A parent has raised more than £3,500 in the hope of challenging a decision of their unnamed local authority to refuse to provide Free School Meal (FSM) vouchers to disabled children during holidays because they are unable to attend school.
Natalie Hay also aims to challenge the authority’s decision to refuse to “make a reasonable adjustment to enable my disabled child to receive a Free School Meal alternative”, during term time.
Hay set up an online parent carer group, which now has 1,500 parent carer members, seeking FSM inclusion for their child with disabilities.
On her Crowd Justice page, she said: “We urgently need all local authorities and all schools in the UK to have a clear Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) policy in place. This would ensure that disabled children are not excluded from receiving Free School Meals and are not substantially disadvantaged.”
She added: “During the pandemic lockdowns, supermarket vouchers were sent to parents. […] However, when the majority of children went back to school, a minority of disabled children (continuing to learn from home) saw their FSM supermarket vouchers stop.
“It is not clear why this happened or why this scheme was not extended to benefit children with disabilities.
“It is also not clear why many councils send out supermarket vouchers during school holidays, but choose to exclude children with disabilities. Ironically, many families find themselves in a position where the more vulnerable child gets the least Free School Meal support.”
Law firm Rook Irwin Sweeney have been instructed to work on the case.
Hay noted on the Crowd Justice page that £5,000 will need to be raised so that so that the legal team can “review the issue and advise on the merits of commencing court proceedings”.
The target has since been stretched to £8,000.
Rook Irwin Sweeney has been approached for comment.
Lottie Winson
