Struggling parents have criticised Cornwall Council after it was revealed that cost of living payments for families who receive free school meals could be delayed until after Christmas.

The council has been administering the Household Support Fund payments which provide £80 per child for those who are eligible for free school meals.

The fund is provided by central government and the council has apologised after it admitted that some families will now not get their money until the new year.

In a statement issued on social media the council said: “We’re working hard to ensure families of eligible school children receive their £80 per child cost of living support payment as soon as possible.

"We’d hoped that codes would be sent to schools this week, before the end of term, so they could be redeemed for cash at Post Offices before Christmas.

“Unfortunately it’s taken the Post Office a little longer to create these payments than was originally expected so schools may not have enough time to issue all codes before the end of term.

“We understand how important additional financial support is at this time. Although we have never been able to guarantee this funding would be available before Christmas, we’re doing everything we can to ensure the codes are sent to schools for onward distribution to parents.

“Families that do not receive their code before Christmas will receive them at the start of the next school term. We apologise for any inconvenience caused.”

However, the explanation for the delay was met with hostile responses from parents, some of whom said they were relying on the payments for bills over Christmas.

Responding to the council’s Facebook post Lisa Edmunds said: “They had this money months ago from the government but instead of sorting it straight away they have left it until the deadline and now families have to suffer. I feel for the children where children cannot afford to feed them. The poor souls are going to starve this Christmas because they ain’t at school to have a meal so surely it is with the most importance to get this money to families so that doesn’t happen. A total disgrace.”

Steph Morelnwel added: “What may feel like an ‘inconvenience’ to Cornwall Council is a literal lifeline to many of us. It just further proves how utterly out of touch you are with Cornish people.”

And Louise Howlett said: “I was hoping for this money this week so I could buy some extra food for over Christmas, many people like myself are struggling but as always we make do as people like you mess things up. It’s not hard to get it to the school before Christmas period seeing as you had the money with plenty of time to get it to parents in need.”

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One commenter defended the council staff on the ground involved in the project, Zoe Gordon said: “I want to thank the tiny free school meals team for their hard work at trying to sort this debacle on top of their day to day work of making sure all children entitled to free school meals received them ASAP in school. I know it’s not their personal doing, but rather dumped on them from central government and Cornwall Council hierarchy with no extra money for the extra staff they need anyway, let alone deal with this. And no, I don’t work there.”

The council urged anyone seeking help and advice with the cost of living to visit its webpages www.cornwall.gov.uk/benefits-and-support/household-support-fund or www.cornwall.gov.uk/costofliving