The ‘holiday starvation’ payments to families will be made this summer despite the absence of a manager at Stormont.
The payments to families with 98,000 children will be paid over the summer holidays, the Ministry of Education (DE) has confirmed.
There had been doubts as to whether payments could be made without executive approval.
But Education Secretary Michelle McIlveen has said £12.6million will be spent to make the payment this summer.
However, a longer-term plan to pay families the grant by 2025 has not yet been funded.
- Future of NI-free school holiday meals in doubt
- Holiday starvation allowance not provided in summer
Executive ministers originally agreed in 2020 to pay for meals for eligible children during school holidays.
Families received £27 per fortnight per eligible child.
However, financing of the payments was only agreed until Easter 2022.
The department has now confirmed that these payments will continue over the July and August 2022 summer holidays.
The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) pulled its first minister from Stormont’s power-sharing government in February in protest at the Northern Ireland Protocol which meant its ruling executive could no longer function properly.
In last month’s general election, the DUP returned to the Northern Ireland Assembly as the second-strongest party, but has twice since declined to vote to elect a new Stormont speaker.
According to convention rules, no business can take place after an election until a new speaker is elected, but their election requires the support of both unionists and nationalists.
There are concerns that without a functioning government in Northern Ireland, the cost of living crisis cannot be addressed by local politicians.
In the absence of the executive, the education minister had the opportunity to write to other ministers before the school holidays at the end of the month for their approval of funding the programme.
At Seaview Primary School in north Belfast, around half the pupils are entitled to free school meals.
Principal Corinne Latham said the payments would “support parents to feed their children in a healthy way”.
“We cannot raise children if their needs are not met at home,” she told BBC News NI.
“That little bit extra will benefit families at a time when there are so many needs.”
Ms Latham said the rising cost of living has left some families in trouble.
She added: “We need our government to stand up and step in and really put children’s needs first when they make their decisions.
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