A school has withdrawn meals and bus travel from any pupils whose families have fallen behind on payments.
Parents of students at Middlesbrough’s Trinity Catholic College have been sent a letter to inform them their child’s food and travel accounts will be blocked if they are £20 or more in arrears.
Amid a cost of living crisis, they have instead been told they must provide their children with packed lunches ‘until the debt has been paid off’.
The school, which also runs its own food bank, said in the letter that it was enforcing a ‘new procedure regarding debt management’.
Any pupils who do not have up to date transport accounts will be refused entry to buses, the school said – and parents must make alternative travel arrangements for them.
Parent Lee Garvey is furious at the school’s decision and said it is putting more pressure on less fortunate families who are already struggling to stay afloat in the current financial climate.
‘I’m not sure how the school can justify this,’ he told the BBC. ‘They go knocking on doors to make sure children are OK if they’re absent, yet they’re going to let them potentially go hungry if they don’t have money.’
Mr Garvey, a former vice chair of Middlesbrough Council who has a child at the school, has called on Trinity Catholic College to reconsider its new rules.
He said: ‘We are at the point where working parents will suffer because of this policy, those who are on the cusp of not being able to pay their bills yet are not eligible for free school meals.
‘And I don’t understand, when they’re so keen on improving attendance, saying children potentially can’t go to school because their parents can’t afford the bus pass.
‘How have we come to this, in this day and age? This is supposed to be a Catholic school that’s saying they won’t feed kids if their parents can’t pay.
‘Did Jesus ask for payment upfront when he was feeding the 5,000?’
Thousands of children in the region live in poverty and Amanda Bailey, director of the North East Child Poverty Commission, said the situation at Trinity was ‘deeply concerning’ and urged other schools not to follow suit.
Ms Bailey said many struggling families are ineligible for free school meals and believes the scheme should be expanded to include all children whose parents receive Universal Credit.
She said: ‘All schools and colleges are facing huge budgetary pressures – a situation which we know is being made worse by many across the region now having to support their students to meet their basic needs on a daily basis.’
Nicholas Postgate Catholic Academy Trust, which runs the school, has not responded to requests for comment on the situation.
According to its Facebook page, the school has a free breakfast club for pupils, a pre-loved uniform shop and runs a food bank.
Head teacher Andy Rodgers says on the school’s website: ‘At Trinity, a special value is placed on love and forgiveness, which encourages relationships based on trust, kindness, self-respect and care for those in need.’
The Department for Education said access to free school meals has been extended on numerous occasions since 2010 and that double the number of children now receive them.
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