A leading charity has described the patchwork provision of food support for young people across the country as a "postcode lottery".

It has been found that more councils stopped offering supermarket vouchers to families with children in receipt of Free School Meals (FSM) during the 2022 Christmas break.

While many local authorities offer no payments at all, some offer regular assistance for eligible families.

So how does Lincolnshire compare?

In Lincolnshire, this funding will be allocated through schools and early years providers to eligible families via a one-off payment of £100 per child.

On top of this, Lincolnshire has been allocated £5.46 million for this third round of the Household Support Fund (HSF), which covers the period from 1 October 2022 to 31 March 2023.

Linconlshire County Council will be using 56% of this grant to support children and young people eligible for benefit-related free school meals, two-year-old early years entitlement and early years pupil premium during this period. This funding will be allocated through schools and early years providers to eligible families via a one-off payment of £100 per child.

The Food Foundation said it was "vitally important" all children eligible for Free School Meals had support during the school holidays.

But the Local Government Association (LGA) said that some authorities simply could not continue to provide the vouchers, which came about following a campaign by England footballer Marcus Rashford, with the government grant funding they currently received. 

The Shared Data Unit found:

• 93 out of 124 councils continue to offer holiday food vouchers to children receiving Free School Meals (FSM) during the 2022 Christmas holidays.
• Eleven councils are offering cash to FSM recipients instead.
• Twenty-one councils are no longer running a voucher scheme or equivalent cash scheme over Christmas.

The latest details on the HSF, including the support available for other households, can be found online.