Director's Message - 16th December 2020

Hillingdon Council COVID Winter Grant Scheme

Dear colleagues, 

I am pleased to confirm the details of the Hillingdon Council COVID Winter Grant Scheme. 

The government has awarded money to Hillingdon Council as part of the COVID Winter Grant Scheme to provide support to vulnerable households and families with children affected by the pandemic during the winter period. 

The funding will be used to help those struggling to meet the cost of food and utility bills. As school holidays can be a particularly challenging time for families, anyone with children eligible for benefits-related free school meals will receive a COVID-19 winter payment.  We are using the October 2020 school census data to identify FSM eligible families. 

In most cases we have the contact details / email address for eligible families and therefore we are making payments direct to families in the form of supermarket vouchers (for the two-week school break).  We are also inviting families to apply for a payment towards the cost of their utility bills.  We are working to make the payments for food by Monday 21 December (most payments will be made this week). 

Further information about the scheme can be found on the council's website at www.hillingdon.gov.uk/winter-grant  

We need your help 

To ensure that payments reach eligible families in time for the Christmas break, we may need your help to provide information to families because we do not have an up-to-date email address.  

If we need your help, we will email you today in a separate email listing the families that we need your school to send an email to, asking them to complete an online form on the council's website. The link to the online form will be provided in the email. In many cases where a school needs to send emails to families, there will only be a small number of emails required. 

Not all schools will be asked by the local authority to send emails to families. 

To ensure that those who are eligible for help access the assistance they need, could I ask that you include the link to the council's website on your school website.   

Thank you in anticipation of your help with the implementation of this scheme. 

Best wishes, 

Dan