On Monday 18 January, the Education Secretary, the Rt Hon Gavin Williamson announced the start of the national free school meals voucher scheme supporting low-income families.

This online service allows schools to place orders for supermarket gift cards on behalf of parents and carers whose children are eligible for free school meals.

You can get in touch with us at [email protected] if you have any questions or feedback. 

Priti Patel publishes a new strategy to protect children from sexual abuse

The Home Secretary has published a new strategy to protect children from sexual abuse. The national strategy will prevent, tackle and respond to all forms of sexual abuse, and aims to better protect victims and survivors whilst relentlessly going after abusers.

Violence Against Women and Girls: call for evidence

The Home Office continues to run a Call for Evidence which is seeking to collect views on crimes considered as violence against women and girls (VAWG). The consultation will run until the 19^th  February.

The easiest way to respond and ensure that your views are taken into account is to respond to the online survey available for the general public.

Written submissions can also be sent to [email protected].

Ask for ANI codeword scheme

The Government recently launched the Ask for ANI codeword scheme with independent and Boots pharmacies to help victims of domestic abuse access support.

Thank you for your support to promote the scheme so far. We have produced downloadable assets including posters and social media images and would appreciate any support to amplify the scheme on your social media channels, with your services and amongst your networks.

#SomethingsNotRight, #YouAreNotAlone and Community Safeguarding campaign materials 

The Home Office is currently running a number of campaigns in response to the coronavirus pandemic.

·    ‘Something’s Not Right’ aims to help secondary school children in England who suffered a range of harms, such as sexual and physical abuse, during the lockdown. More information is available on the campaign web page. We have relaunched paid for campaign activity this week in light of current lockdown measures.

·    #YouAreNotAlone aims to raise awareness and signpost to information and support available for victims, family/friends and perpetrators of domestic abuse. On Gov.UK there is full guidance and easy read guidance on getting help for Domestic Abuse during the coronavirus pandemic.

·    The Community Safeguarding Leaflet contains information and guidance for those who are still operating in communities and may not be trained to recognise the signs of abuse or neglect. The guidance covers signs to spot and what to do if there is a concern.

Stakeholder news and campaigns

Parent Zone offering free membership

Parent Zone is offering free Membership to schools and family professionals. Access advice and resources to support digital resilience – including weekly briefings, parent handouts and live events.