Free school meal voucher system criticised by Bradford MP

Bradford East MP, Imran Hussain, has urged the government to solve the controversial Free School Meal (FSM) voucher system immediately so vulnerable children "are not disadvantaged compared to their more affluent peers".

He issued a letter to Education Secretary, Gavin Williamson, last Thursday.

It outlines a number of problems schools, headteachers and families in Bradford have faced with the FSM voucher scheme.

This includes: difficulties and delays with the "Edenred" system, meaning some pupils have received no vouchers over recent weeks, and voucher codes not scanning properly in supermarkets, leaving parents unable to pay and having to abandon their shopping.

The FSM vouchers were introduced by the government to ensure children who normally receive a free meal when in school would still get the same provision even if they were at home during the forced closure of schools due to the coronavirus pandemic.

A Department for Education (DfE) spokesperson says it is continuing to encourage schools to arrange food parcels or collections for families eligible for free school meals in the first instance.

But, the FSM voucher system is in place for where this is not possible.

Edenred - a French company - is administering the vouchers on behalf of the government.

Schools must order vouchers for eligible pupils from the firm's website and once this is processed they can be sent to family's by email or printed by the school to be delivered.

But Edenred's system has proved problematic and controversial.

Bradford Council states around 30 per cent of schools across the country are facing severe challenges in accessing the FSM system.

There are 27,000 children across the city who are entitled to, or receiving free school meals, and MP Hussain claims that the figure for people struggling in Bradford could be much higher than 30 per cent.

The MP highlights in his letter that the free meals are crucial for his constituency - where around half of the children there grow up in poverty - and Bradford as a whole in tackling both the symptoms and causes of child poverty.

He said: "“The impact of Coronavirus is exacerbating what is an already stark divide between our poorest and most affluent communities, and families with parents who have been placed on furlough with reduced incomes, but unchanged outgoings are being particularly hard hit by its impact.

"They face an even greater challenge than normal in putting food on the table during this crisis, and the Government should be taking down barriers for these families, not putting them up."

The DfE spokesperson said: "As of Tuesday, May 12, the amount of free school meal codes redeemed into supermarket vouchers by families and schools is at over £65 million.

"Improvements have been made to Edenred’s technology system this weekend and we expect the company to continually improve to meet this unprecedented situation."

Peel Park Primary School and Nursery headteacher, Lloyd Mason-Edwards, has had trouble with the system right throughout the time since its inception.

He even had to dip into his own pocket, to the tune of almost £2000, to ensure vulnerable children didn't go hungry.

While he admits it has got better in some respects, the system still leaves a lot to be desired, with many families unable to use the vouchers.

Mr Mason-Edwards said: "I'm not having to get up at 2.30am in the morning to get on anymore - it took 10 minutes this morning.

"There's still orders there that have not been fulfilled from a week ago.

"There's still families who are not able to use them."

The head checked orders for vouchers he put in last week on Thursday and was disappointed to see they had still not gone through.

He said: "I was reassured it would take three days to process, but they're still not processed today - it's taken a week."

For those without internet or the facilities to print, the school can get the vouchers administered to its emails and then deliver the physical copies to families and children.

But, Mr Mason-Edwards has had very limited success with that method.

He said: "One code has worked and I nearly got the flag out."

Even those who have managed to get vouchers are still having trouble in the supermarkets.

Mr Mason-Edwards said: "Parents are ringing and emailing me to say that the vouchers are still not working at the till.

"I had one lovely parent ring me this morning, she'd been shopping to Morrison's and showed her phone, she's got an Iphone so the barcode is fine, and it's not recognised.

"People are having to abandon their shopping after queuing to get into the supermarket.

"This parent said they're going to have to borrow money from relatives now, which is totally unacceptable."

Mr Mason-Edwards feels there is a lack of communication and clarity with the scheme and that staff themselves are having to explain it all to parents.

"They're sat in their ivory tower in London and they don't understand how people in inner cities have to live.

"It's been tough, lots of our parents have been laid off by their employers, lots have been furloughed, lots own their own businesses but can't claim until June and their cashflow just isn't there.

"We're doing food parcels for them, food runs every week.

"I'm doing parcels on my way home today, a member of staff is doing them tomorrow who speaks different languages - because there's a language barrier, we've got deaf parents who can't watch the evening briefings.

"We've got ones that don't have access to the internet - 25 is not a lot out of 650 kids, but it's still 25 who are due free school meals and they don't have access to the internet."

This has all been ramped up a gear since Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced his road-map for leaving the lockdown.

It states that the next phase will see schools open in a limited manner, from the earliest of June 1.

Peel Park has been preparing itself for the often talked about "new normal".

But such expense has seen the school max out its credit card, which is one of the reasons Mr Mason-Edwards had to rely on his own resources initially to help those who had fallen foul of the FSM voucher scheme.

The head said: "We've been buying equipment to reopen the school, sanitiser, thermometers, gloves, portable sinks.

"We've been buying things to send to children at homes without internet access - such as books.

"The school has maxed out its credit card which is unusual.

"This morning I tried to up our credit card limit at school, but the bank weren't very helpful and we'd have to go through the process of a new application again."

Overall, the process has been somewhat traumatic for Peel Park and MP Hussain revealed headteachers at four other schools in Bradford had raised concerns about the system.

This includes, Newby Primary in West Bowling, Howton Park Primary in Canterbury, Carlton Bolling and Thornbury Primary, with some of these schools having received no vouchers at all yet, according to the MP.

Mr Mason-Edwards concluded that the initial hiccups in the system were acceptable giving the unprecedented circumstances.

But, he believes that these issues should have bee resolved by now, particularly given how vital it is.

He said: "We all know the first week we went into lockdown, it was a shock.

"The second week, Edenred was selected.

"It's seven or eight weeks down the line now, you would think they'd have it sorted."