Recommendation 19

The Department recognised that the instructions for schools were not clear enough at the start of the scheme, and it also attributed this to its lack of user-testing.33 Edenred told us that it had not been able to engage with schools before the scheme was launched. It felt this would have been an opportunity to explain to schools how to register for the scheme and how to place orders.34 The Department said that, because the guidance was 28 C&AG’s Report, paras 3.3–3.4 29 Q 37 30 C&AG’s Report, paras 3.7, 3.15 31 Q 135 32 Q 37 33 Q 95 34 Q 135 12 COVID 19: the free school meals voucher scheme not clear enough, many schools submitted a large number of individual orders, rather than uploading a single spreadsheet with a bulk order for their pupils, which took up much more system capacity.35