"Holiday hunger" payments to families will go ahead this summer despite the lack of an executive at Stormont.
The payments to families of 98,000 children will be given out over the summer holidays, the Department of Education (DE) has confirmed.
There had been doubt whether payments could be made without Executive agreement.
But the Education Minister, Michelle McIlveen, has said £12.6m will be spent to make the payment this summer.
However, a longer term plan to pay families the grant until 2025 is not yet funded.
