MICHELLE McIlveen last night allocated £5.5million to extend a school holiday food grant.
The DUP education minister said that families of children entitled to free school meals will receive the grant until March.
This means the money will be paid to all school children entitled to free meals for Halloween, Christmas holidays this year and February half-term holidays in 2023.
"I am aware of the financial pressures that school holidays can have for parents on low incomes, especially during the current cost of living crisis we are experiencing," she said.
"That is why I am allocating £5.5million to continue to extend the school holiday food grant, which will help provide further support to families at this time.
"This payment will help to ensure that around 100,000 of our young people can continue to access healthy, nutritious food, at a time when many families are already financially vulnerable.
"I hope confirmation of this continued payment will provide some reassurance to many parents on low incomes and help alleviate some of the pressure they are experiencing."
