Back to school packs are being sold by a Kent supermarket, which customers buy but then donate back to the store to be sent to a family in need.

Morrisons has launched the initiative after its shoppers spent more than £1million supporting a similar food pack scheme this year.

The Back To School Pick Up Packs, put together by Morrisons staff, contain essential stationery items that children often need, particularly for secondary school, when they go back in September for the new academic year.

The pre-packed bags, available to buy each day, contain items like pens, pencils, rubbers, rulers and maths sets and cost £5 or less depending on the contents of each package.

Visitors can pick up a pack on their way into a Morrisons supermarkets, pay for the items at the till, and then place the bag in a dedicated donation station before being passed to local schools and other community groups, such as food banks, who can make sure they reach families and pupils most in need.

Morrisons' back to school stationery packs and its successful food pack initiative, which has seen millions of food and toiletry items bought by kind-hearted shoppers for families struggling in the pandemic, are not the only two community initiatives the supermarket chain has launched this year.

Back in May it confirmed details of a discreet new scheme called 'Ask for Sandy' which aims to tackle the problems of period poverty across the UK by giving out free sanitary products to people who ask at its customer services desks. The initiative was rolled out to every one of its 496 supermarket stores.

Rebecca Singleton, Customer & Community Director at Morrisons, said while the return to school can be an exciting time, those struggling to afford essential items for their children can find the shopping process stressful.

She said: “Going back to school can be both a nervous and exciting time for families.

"We hope these packs go some way to helping local children and their families who may struggle with the costs of going back to school - and take one thing off the to do list.”

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