A lifeline could be thrown to hundreds of children whose lives are blighted by so-called holiday hunger.
If approved, lunches will be served at some Fife schools throughout the holidays, a time when low income families can struggle to put an additional meal on the table each day.
Fife Council’s administration proposes to set aside £400,000 in its budget for the coming year to trial the scheme.
It would see up to 700 meals served each day at 24 primary schools across the kingdom, starting in the Easter holidays and continuing through the summer, October and Christmas breaks.
Community and housing services convener Judy Hamilton said she hoped the initiative would win cross-party support.
She said: “All of our food banks are reporting that they are oversubscribed and this would relieve the pressure on families and on food banks.
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“It’s a disgrace that people can’t afford to feed their families through no fault of their own.
“If there is anything we can do to help these families through the school holidays we should do it. It’s a long time to be away from support.”
The proposal will be voted upon when the council sets its budget for 2019/20 in February.
Mrs Hamilton said: “I’m fairly confident it will be supported. I think everybody, cross-party, can see the pressure families are under and that local government needs to step in to support them.”
Meals would be provided during holidays for one year, and the level of uptake and success of the scheme would be assessed before it is continued.
In providing healthy meals throughout the holidays, Fife would follow in the footsteps of North Lanarkshire Council, which became the first in the UK to continue feeding youngsters entitled to free school meals during holidays.
Its Club 365 was deemed a success when it was trialled in Coatbridge and it was expanded to the rest of the region.
