Free School Meals: Coronavirus

(asked on 18th May 2020) - View Source

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what information his Department holds on the number of schools that have not taken up the free school meal voucher scheme during the covid-19 outbreak; and what provisions those schools are putting in place as an alternative to that scheme.


Answered by
Vicky Ford Portrait
Vicky Ford
This question was answered on 27th May 2020

As both my right hon. Friends, the Prime Minister and Chancellor of the Exchequer have made clear, the government will do whatever it takes to support people affected by COVID-19.

Our latest guidance for schools is set out below:

https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/coronavirus-covid-19-guidance-for-schools-and-other-educational-settings.

These are rapidly developing circumstances; we continue to keep the situation under review and will keep Parliament updated accordingly.

During this period, we are asking schools to support children who are eligible for and claiming benefits-related free school meals, by providing meals or food parcels through their existing food providers wherever possible. We know that many schools are successfully delivering food parcels or arranging food collections for eligible children, and we encourage this approach where it is possible.

However, we recognise that providing meals and food parcels is not a practicable option for all schools. That is why on 31 March we launched a national voucher scheme as an alternative option, with costs covered by the Department for Education.

Schools are best placed to make decisions about the most appropriate arrangements for eligible pupils, and this can include food parcel arrangements, alternative voucher arrangements or provision through the national voucher scheme. Some schools may apply a combination of these approaches. We do not hold details of the arrangements each individual school is making outside of the national voucher scheme.

Our national voucher scheme supplier, Edenred has reported that over £101.5 million worth of voucher codes has been redeemed into supermarket eGift cards by schools and families through the scheme as of Friday 22 May. Edenred has also reported that 17,000 schools had placed orders for the scheme as of Tuesday 12 May.

We do not collect data at pupil or family level about local arrangements for free school meals provision during this period. We therefore do not hold information on the number of children that have been fed via school collection and distribution models or other means since school closures.

Schools should provide meal options for all children who are in school, and meals should be available free of charge where pupils meet the benefits-related free school meal eligibility criteria and to all infant pupils. Under normal circumstances, schools do not provide free school meals to eligible children who are not in school. However, during the COVID-19 outbreak we expect schools to continue supporting children eligible for benefits-related free school meals who are at home.

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