Fund to aid children from military families doubled to £24m
The money will go towards helping children from military families deal with worry of being separated from a parent
A fund to help thousands of children from military families cope at school with the strain of having a parent serve in the armed forces has been doubled to £24m.
With David Cameron likely to meet troops separated from their families before Christmas, the prime minister revealed that the coalition is expanding its school-support programme to £6m of funding a year until 2018.
The money will go towards helping children from military families settle into new schools and deal with the worry of being separated from a parent.
Around £9m has been spent on about 400 projects over the last three years, after the initiative was introduced under the armed forces covenant in 2011.
On Sunday, the prime minister said: “We have a moral duty to ensure that the children of our service men and women are not disadvantaged by the vital job that their parents do keeping our country safe.
“That’s why we are doubling the school support fund to £6m every year for the next four years.”
Officials said the increased funding will particularly benefit 3,000 service children who are expected to return from bases in Germany to the UK between 2014 to 2018.
Projects given money so far include Compton primary school in Plymouth, Devon, which created a dedicated fruit and vegetable garden as a quiet area for children who need time away from the noise of the school.
