Help is Available
Food banks and community larders
- Ottery Community Larder is a new venture that wants to ensure that no-one in West Hill or Ottery St Mary goes hungry.
- Based at The Institute, Yonder Street, Ottery St Mary
- Telephone Ottery Community Volunteers on 01404 600013
- The Community Insights Team at Devon Community Foundation is available to advise and assist with accessing food banks. Email insights@devoncf.com or call 07923 230969. They have also provided some information about community projects in Devon.
Healthy Start Vouchers – free food and vitamin vouchers
Healthy Start is a programme to help families with young children get free food vouchers to spend on milk, plain fresh and frozen fruit and vegetables and infant formula milk. You can also get free vitamins for under 4’s (vit A, C and D) and vitamins if you are pregnant (folic acid and vit C & D).
If you have children under 4 or are pregnant, and you or your family receive qualifying benefits you may be eligible – you can quickly find out on the Healthy Start website
Applying is easy, you can print off an application form from the Healthy Start website and post it to the Healthy Start office. Once you are registered, food vouchers are posted to you every 4 weeks and vitamin coupons every 8 weeks.
To make things easier at the moment, vitamins are being posted to families. Please ask your midwife or Children’s Centre for more information, or text your health visitor on 07520 631721.
Applying for free school meals in Devon
You may be eligible for free school meals if your family receives one of the following qualifying benefits:
- Universal Credit (provided you have an annual net earned income of no more than £7,400, as assessed by earnings from up to three of your most recent assessment periods).
- Income Support (IS).
- Income-based Jobseekers Allowance (IBJSA).
- Income-related Employment and Support Allowance (IRESA).
- The guaranteed element of State Pension Credit.
- Support under Part VI of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999.
- Child Tax Credit (provided you’re not also entitled to Working Tax Credit and have an annual gross income as assessed by Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs, that does not exceed £16,190).
If you think you might be eligible for Free School Meals, you can apply through the Devon Citizens Portal. This is the quickest and easiest way to apply and will result in you getting an instant decision. Alternatively, you can call the Education Helpline on 0345 155 1019 to request a paper copy of the form.
