Free School Meals: Voucher Schemes

(asked on 2nd June 2020) - View Source

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he has taken to (a) reduce the waiting time for parents and schools to access the national free school meals voucher scheme system and (b) make other improvements to that scheme since its inception.


Answered by
Vicky Ford Portrait
Vicky Ford
This question was answered on 10th June 2020

During this period, we are asking schools to support children at home who are eligible for and claiming benefits-related free school meals, by providing meals or food parcels through their existing food providers wherever 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.

We do not hold information on the value of unredeemed vouchers. However, as of Wednesday 3 June, Edenred has reported that over £129 million worth of voucher codes have been redeemed into supermarket eGift cards by schools and families through the scheme. Edenred has reported that over 17,500 schools had placed orders for the scheme as of Tuesday 26 May. Edenred do not report on the data broken down below national level.

We are continuing to work very closely with Edenred to improve the performance of the national voucher scheme. The scheme continues to get easier and faster to use. The latest information provided by Edenred indicates that parents and schools are now facing minimal or no waiting time for orders that are placed online, despite continued growth in the number of parents and schools using the scheme.

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

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