CYP Now - DfE ‘unconcerned' over profiteering from £425m free school meals contract

The Department for Education was “surprisingly unconcerned” about whether free school meals contractor Edenred was “profiting from the taxpayer” through the supermarket voucher scheme, the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) says.

Edenred's contract was extended despite families being unable to access vouchers early in the scheme, PAC states. Picture: Adobe Stock

Despite “serious problems” with the scheme which left 40,000 voucher codes not delivered to families, DfE has extended Edenred’s contract twice since April last year, the report states.

Combined, the extensions increased its value from £78m to £425m, PAC says, adding that DfE made no attempts to renegotiate any of the terms or introduce any profit-sharing element.

“DfE considered it achieved good value for money because it did not pay Edenred anything more than the face value of the vouchers issued to families.

“However, Edenred bought the vouchers from supermarkets at a discount, and DfE could have chosen to try and renegotiate how much it paid Edenred per voucher and so reduce the cost to the taxpayer”, the report states.

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