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A mother said she was skipping meals “all the time” to feed her children after families lost a combined £4,500 due to a clerical error. Priory Witham Academy failed to pay 45 families with children of nursery age £100 home support vouchers for Christmas as promised due to an “administrative oversight”.

Parents, including Leah Bailey, will now only receive the cash in March. And the single mother, who is from Lincoln, said she had a hard time feeding herself and her two children.

The vouchers, which are part of the government’s scheme working with schools and other third parties, aim to help people deal with “global inflationary challenges and the significantly increased cost of living”.

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“I was waiting for that money to come in so I could buy them more things for Christmas,” Miss Bailey, 39, who receives payments from Universal Credit, told LincolnshireLive. “With the economy right now, it’s hard for a single mother to get food for her children and herself.

“Keeping that voucher has made my life very difficult. I miss meals all the time.

“It’s between my children who don’t eat and me who doesn’t eat.” The government website states that authorities should particularly target people with disabilities, as they “may be facing acute challenges due to the disproportionate impact (of) rising costs.”

Miss Bailey’s youngest son, Theo, aged three, who attends the school, has Duane’s syndrome, which means he has additional dietary requirements, as well as regular trips to hospital. He also has a six-year-old son, Noah, at another school who also has special needs.

Every trip to the hospital means Miss Bailey has to spend her extra money on parking and occasionally refueling her car. A Priory Witham Academy spokesperson said: “Nearly 500 family support vouchers aligned with our children from Reception upwards were processed before Christmas.

“However, Early Years is under a separate system and administrative oversight meant that 45 coupons were simply lost at the time. We rectified the error as soon as it was brought to our attention and coupons are now processed as a matter of priority.

“We apologize, once again, to our parents and carers for any inconvenience this delay may have caused.” Geraldine O’Neill, sustainability and development manager at Lincolnshire County Council, said: “The local authority received an inquiry from a parent at Priory Witham Academy regarding an outstanding home support grant voucher.

“We investigated the missing payment and found that the Academy had neglected to issue the last coupon to parents of Early Years students. The Academy was asked to contact parents directly to resolve this issue and they confirmed that it would be sent an apology email issued to all parents and coupons would be distributed immediately.”

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