Significant problems with the national school meals voucher scheme led to about a third of eligible children suffering greater food insecurity, a major new report into the impact of Covid-19 has said.
A report by the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee also criticises the government for excluding discount and local convenience stores from being involved for technical reasons - even though they could have helped more children.
And it recommends that steps are taken to ensure that the voucher scheme has “universal reach” during school holidays when children in poverty “are particularly vulnerable to experiencing insufficient nutritious food”.
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The report into the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on food supply praises the government for the speed at which a national school meal voucher scheme was set up.
However, it then adds: “The system has been beset by significant problems, ultimately leading to about a third of children experiencing greater food insecurity in the first month.
“A particular problem was the government’s immediate reliance on the larger retailers to participate in the scheme, with discounters and convenience stores excluded for technical reasons, even when they were able to offer workable voucher schemes which would have helped more children.
“There was a need for closer collaboration on the part of both government and retailers. The government did not sufficiently consider the realities of where families dependent on free school meals were most likely to shop for food.”
The report highlights concerns from Stephanie Wood, the chief executive of the charity School Food Matters, that the Department for Education had “defaulted” to the national big six supermarkets.
Ms Wood had told MPs that two of these chains - Marks & Spencer and Waitrose were “really irrelevant when it comes to families on low income.”
The MPs’ report also highlights concern that schools that used alternative vouchers outside the national scheme were effectively financially penalised.
It adds: “Penalising some schools that use voucher systems outside the problematic national scheme ignores the fact that the ultimate priority, as recognised by those schools, should be keeping children fed.”
The report recommends that the government be more flexible and recognise the importance and success of most community-led responses to the provision of free school meal substitutes.
It adds: “Schools should be allowed to provide vouchers for whichever retailers serve their community best, without financial penalty.
“In addition, schools should be encouraged to continue catering directly for their pupils without being put in a financially worse situation than those using the national voucher scheme.”
