A contractor without experience of dealing with schools was deployed to distribute vouchers which were delayed while families and headteachers struggled to access support and help, either by phone or email, the NAO found.
In response to the health crisis in March, the government announced a national free school meals voucher scheme for children unable to access their free meals entitlement due to school closures.
Existing government employee benefits and staff incentives contractor Edenred was contracted to deliver the scheme in March.
However, “in the first few weeks after the launch, schools reported that it was difficult and time-consuming to register for the scheme and they faced problems logging onto Edenred's website, with staff having to do this late at night to avoid long waiting times”, according to the NAO’s investigation into the free school meals voucher scheme.
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