Recommendation 10

In written evidence, the National Association of Head Teachers told us that many school leaders took immediate action to support pupils eligible for free school meals following the school closures. The responses included creating local schemes, using their existing catering contracts, and purchasing supermarket vouchers from their own reserves. The National Association of Head Teachers also said that a large number of schools felt they had no alternative other than to use the national voucher scheme, or risk not being fully reimbursed for the additional costs involved in making local arrangements.15 We also received written evidence from Elsley Primary School that there was a huge incentive for schools to use the national scheme rather than a local alternative, as the Department had placed limitations on the maximum amount of money that schools could claim for operating local schemes.16 8 Qq 38–40 9 Qq 38 10 Qq 42–43 11 Q 39 12 Q 47 13 C&AG’s Report, para 3 14 Q 38; Supplementary written evidence from the Department for Education 15 National Association of Head Teachers submission, paras 6, 21 16 Elsley Primary School submission, para 15 COVID 19: the free school meals voucher scheme 9 Supermarket coverage