Crisis and Resilience Fund
School Holiday Support Payment
As part of the Crisis and Resilience Fund, food support will be available to families with school age children during the holidays.
Families can request support of £15 per week per school age child that receives income based Free School Meals to help cover the costs of food during the school holiday periods if they are struggling to meet these additional food costs.
The current round of applications will be available from 30 June 2026 for the Summer holidays, and if successful, an award of £90 will be given per eligible child, which will be paid via a payment to your bank account.
If you are currently in receipt of Free School Meals for your child, please apply using the below link. However please read the below tips before applying:
To apply for support, you will be required to create an online account.
Once logged in, if you are not taken directly to the application page, you can find this application by using quick code:
307B98
If you are not currently in receipt of Free School Meals for your child, please apply for support using the Crisis Payment form.
Benefits Calculator
As part of your application, you will complete our benefits calculator which will notify you of any benefits that you are missing out on which you would be eligible for. This calculator will also advise you if there are any social tariffs available to reduce your living expenses such as energy bills.
It is therefore recommended that when you start this application, you have information to hand regarding your income and household bills.
Property reference number
Please note that in order to start an application, you must have been in receipt of Free School Meals as of 16 June 2026. The application process will verify that your household is eligible for support by asking for a property reference number.
Your property reference number can be found by using the search function with your postcode and house name/number.
If you use the incorrect property reference, your application will fail verification which will result in your application being declined, so please ensure that you select the correct property reference when applying. This property reference will be for the property that your Free School meal claim is registered to.
If you have been awarded Free School Meals after 16 June 2026, please contact householdsupport@cheshirewestandchester.gov.uk to request your property be added to the application system. To consider this we will require your name, full address with postcode and date of birth.
Banking Checks
As part of this application, a bank verification check will be completed to ensure that the bank account declared belongs to the person applying for support. If this bank verification check fails, this may require further contact with you to verify your bank account.
In order to ensure your payment is processed promptly, please attach to your application evidence that the bank account belongs to you e.g. bank statement which shows the account holders name, bank account number and sort code clearly visible.
Alternatively, please provide this to householdsupport@cheshirewestandchester.gov.uk along with your 7 digit application reference. If you do not provide your evidence when requested then unfortunately we will be unable to consider your application so please ensure this is provided.
For further information please see our frequently asked questions page.
