Parents claim free school meal substitutes did not provide enough food for Preston pupils - but new voucher system is now up and running

The food packs, provided by Lancashire County Council, were intended to provide what were described as “five simple breakfasts and lunches” for each child across the course of a week.

The authority started supplying the parcels, via schools, from 23rd March – the first day that they closed their gates to all but the children of key workers. A total of 27,000 boxes of ingredients had to be packed within days of the government announcing the school shut down.

But some parents in the Plungington area of the city claim that the contents of the packs lasted only half the week. One mother, who did not want to be named, contacted her local Preston city councillor listing what she had been given.

“Two potatoes/tomatoes/apples/carrots, one cucumber/orange, two cereal bars, two jellies, two packets of crisps, one porridge, one tin of beans, one tin of tuna – unbelievable.”

Lancashire County Council’s website states that ready meals, eggs and grated cheese were to feature in the parcels – and the Lancashire Post has seen pictures where those items were included.

But Famida Hussain, a mother of five, says that the ready meals which she received in week one were absent from this week’s supply – and that the pack contained only single items of some of the fruit and veg.

“I’m thankful for everything that we were given and would never want to appear ungrateful – but it wasn’t five meals. I have a stock of things like potatoes which I was able to add to the food from the packs – but families who didn’t have anything else at home will have really struggled.

“One of my children’s schools gave out a voucher instead and that was great, because I was able to make it stretch much further as I’m used to budgeting for food,” she added.

Within the last few days, the government has now implemented a new nationwide scheme which will see the families of all children entitled to free school meals given a £15 weekly voucher to cover the cost of their lunches for as long as schools remain closed. The government has now announced that the vouchers will also be issued over the Easter holidays.

The vouchers can be redeemed on food at several major supermarkets and Lancashire County Council is now encouraging schools to make use of the offer in their own areas.

County Cllr Phillippa Williamson, cabinet member for children, young people and schools, said: “Around 27,000 food packs were arranged within 48 hours of government notification of schools closing. This impacted upon our ability to provide sufficient food for more than 135,000 meals for the week.

“During the second week of food packs, it was only intended to cover two days while the government’s voucher scheme became available.

“The voucher scheme is now being rolled out, which will allow people to buy their own food and to choose their own items.

“The national availability of some food stocks also affected what we could do at that time.

“There have been a small number of comments about these food parcels and their contents. These arrangement were made fairly quickly with a lot of hard work by the team involved.

“We ask people to report any issues direct to us, so that we can look into them,” said County Cllr Williamson, adding that schools which remain open for key workers over the Easter holidays will continue to be supplied by the authority’s catering team.

Cllr Pav Akhtar, who represents Plungington on Preston City Council welcomed the introduction of the vouchers, but condemned the experience of parents and careers in his ward over the last fortnight.

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

“And yet, despite the claims, that’s precisely what Lancashire County Council’s free school meals service has done. I’ve been inundated with complaints from parents. They describe a ‘lottery’ in ensuring their children who are meant to benefit from free school meals getting access to healthy, nutritious and filling meals while they’re being home-tutored because schools have been shut,” Cllr Akhtar said.

The new vouchers will be supplied in the form a code sent via email to parents and carers, who can then present it on their phone at the supermarket. Alternatively, a gift card for a preferred supermarket can be posted to households which do not have access to the internet.

The Department for Education said that the £15 value of the vouchers exceeded the amount which would normally be spent by schools on supplying free meals, in recognition of the fact that individual families would not be able to purchase food at the same rate as schools which bulk-buy their supplies.

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