Free School Meals: Voucher Schemes

(asked on 1st May 2020) - View Source

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will take steps to ensure that the Edenred school voucher system includes the Co-op stores.


Answered by
Vicky Ford Portrait
Vicky Ford
This question was answered on 13th 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.

The national voucher scheme for free school meals currently includes a variety of supermarkets. Initially, the scheme included supermarkets that already have e-gift card arrangements in place with our supplier, Edenred, including Asda, Sainsbury’s, Tesco, Morrisons, Marks & Spencer and Waitrose. On Monday 27 April, we added Aldi to this list and on Wednesday 29 April, we added McColl’s. We have been working with other supermarkets to encourage them to join. Any additional supermarkets would need to have the right infrastructure to deliver e-gift cards across their network of stores.

Schools are best placed to make decisions about the most appropriate free school meal arrangements for eligible pupils during this period. This can include food parcel arrangements, alternative voucher arrangements or provision through the national voucher scheme. Our guidance for schools sets out that they can be reimbursed for costs incurred where the national voucher scheme is not suitable for their families. This can include alternative voucher arrangements with supermarkets that are not part of the national voucher scheme.

Schools are best placed to make decisions about the most appropriate free school meal arrangements for eligible pupils during this period. This can include food parcel arrangements, alternative voucher arrangements or provision through the national voucher scheme. Our guidance for schools sets out that they can be reimbursed for costs incurred where the national voucher scheme is not suitable for their families. This can include alternative voucher arrangements with supermarkets that are not part of the national voucher scheme.

We have been working closely with the Co-op and welcome their efforts to support families across the country. We thank all supermarkets for their hard work during these challenging times.

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

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