Recommendation 8

The Department noted that an advantage of a voucher scheme was that it made it more likely that the money would be spent on food, which was the aim.11 We asked why the Department, having settled on a voucher scheme, had chosen Edenred to run it. The Department explained that there were a number of alternative voucher providers it could have chosen and that its commercial and legal advice confirmed that, in light of the exceptional circumstances, it could make a direct contract award. It asked the Crown Commercial Service whether it had any suppliers on a framework that had already been through a competitive process with due diligence checks and that could provide a voucher service. Edenred was the only company that met this requirement.12