Children across South Derbyshire who are eligible for school meals will now be able to receive a weekly shopping voucher worth £15 to spend at supermarkets while schools are closed due to coronavirus. Though some schools may choose to continue to provide meals for collection and delivery, I hope that where this is not possible it will provide some relief to families by ensuring their children ger a healthy and nutritious meal outside of school.
The vouchers will be provided to families electronically or as a gift card for those who do not have internet. The vouchers can be used in a wide range of shops including Sainsbury’s, Tesco, Asda, Morrisons, Waitrose and M&S. The Government is working to expand this to other shops as soon as possible.
Schools will be emailed by the Department for Education’s chosen supplier, Edenred. Schools will then either 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; or
- Arrange a bulk order of multiple codes and receive an excel spreadsheet to help schools organise sending on to a family, or create an eGift card for a preferred supermarket to be posted to a family if parents cannot get online.
By providing these vouchers it will help fill one of the gaps that has arisen since the Covid-19 crisis began and will help make things easier and be more practical for families. I understand many schools have already developed schemes and local solutions in South Derbyshire but I hope this will help to make things easier and simpler for them.
In these challenging times we must all do what we can to help and support one another. I must thank Schools and all their staff for the work they are doing to support families by providing school meals and helping emergency and key workers by providing care for their children.
Each and every one of us has a role to play to beat this virus. Stay hope, protect the NHS and save lives.
