Families in St Helens eligible for free school meals can now claim £15 voucher

Parents and carers will receive a £15 voucher every week per child, through their school, which can be redeemed online or spent in-store at a number of leading supermarkets.

St Helens Council said it is awaiting guidance from the government on measures to be taken outside of term-time and will update the public accordingly once this information is made clear.

Cllr Sue Murphy, deputy leader of St Helens Council and cabinet member for developing young people, said: “During these exceptional circumstances, it is vitally important that we ensure our children and young people who qualify for a free school meal continue to receive the food they need.

“I’d like to take this opportunity to thank all school workers and staff in children’s services who are working tirelessly for the best interests of our children and young people – and also to St Helens Community Transport who have been busy delivering free school meals across the borough to self-isolating families – in what is a rapidly changing situation.”

Cllr Sue Murphy, deputy leader of St Helens Council and cabinet member for developing young people

The voucher scheme is a national initiative launched by the government following the closure of UK schools for everyone except key workers.

The vouchers can be spent on food at a range of shops including Sainsbury’s, Tesco, Asda, Morrisons, Waitrose and M&S.

The Department for Education said it is working to get more shops to join the scheme “as soon as possible”.

Schools will be able to order vouchers individually online and have a code sent via email to each family.

The family can then show the code on their phone at the supermarket.

Schools can also arrange a bulk order of multiple codes to be sent to families or create an eGift card for a preferred supermarket to be posted to a family if parents cannot get online.

The voucher scheme is part of the government’s commitment to provide ongoing support for the 1.3 million children that would receive benefits-related free school meals at their school.

Education Secretary Gavin Williamson said: “I recognise that the unprecedented action this government is taking to protect the country from coronavirus, including closing schools, is dramatically affecting the lives of many families.

“I want to thank schools for the support they are continuing to provide to families during such uncertain times.

“No child should go hungry as a result of the measures introduced to keep people at home, protect the NHS and save lives.

“That’s why we are launching this scheme to make sure children who usually benefit from free school meals still have access to healthy and nutritious meals while they are not attending school.”

Paul Whiteman, general secretary of the National Association of Headteachers (NAHT), welcomed the voucher scheme.

“This new system fills in one of the remaining gaps in the complex jigsaw puzzle of provision that has arisen from the COVID-19 crisis,” he said.

“There may be some kinks to work out of the scheme, especially as it has been developed at pace, but at least there is some certainty available now.

“The government has done the right thing by ensuring that vouchers can be used at a range of different shops, making it more practical for families to use the vouchers.

“Many schools had already developed their own schemes and local solutions, so it is good to see that they will be able to continue these if they’re working well or adopt the new scheme if they feel that would be better.

“We’ll be working with the government to make sure this system works as effectively as everyone hopes it will.”