EA website crashes as demand surges for free school meals & uniforms payment applications

High demand on the Education Authority (EA) website by parents attempting to apply for free school meals and uniform payments have led to the site crashing on Wednesday morning.

It is understood the Education Authority sent out letters over the weekend to families in Northern Ireland who may be eligible to receive the help, which will be welcome more than ever, with many homes struggling with the cost of living.

A queuing system was introduced for applications on the website at the beginning of this week by EA as demand surged.

Frustrated by a queue numbering several thousand and unable to stay online for a few hours, a number of parents contacted Love Ballymena to ask why the website could not cope with the online traffic.

Following the website crashing earlier today, a spokesperson for the Education Authority (EA) told Love Ballymena:

“Due to a technical issue, our Free School Meals and Uniform Allowance application is temporarily unavailable.

“Our teams are working hard to get the system back up and running as soon as possible (we expect this to be no later than the end of this week i.e. 17-Jun-22). We will continue to provide updates on our website.

“We sincerely apologise for the inconvenience this may have caused, and we thank parents for their continued patience and co-operation.

“Please note parents have up to the end of July to apply to ensure their application is processed and in place for the new school year in September.”