Food parcels supposed to feed schoolchildren instead of a £30 voucher have sparked disbelief after they were found to cost just £5.22 – sparking questions over where the money has gone and a Downing Street probe.
Free school meal allowances are worth £15.20 a pupil per week, but a mother yesterday showed her child’s hamper for the fortnight could be bought for a third of the price.
It was provided by Chartwells, which is the education catering specialist of £24.8billion-earning Compass Group UK & Ireland.
The firm, whose managing director is called Charlie Brown, insisted today it followed government guidelines for all its parcels.
But it admitted the hamper shown did not meet that criteria and immediately launched its own investigation.
As Manchester United footballer Marcus Rashford – who has been behind a drive to get free meals to children who need them – led responses to the image further pictures emerged showing a huge gulf in quality and amount of food.
Today the government said it was ‘urgently’ looking into claims the free school meals parcels only contained a few pounds worth of food. Meanwhile doctors at the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health wrote to the government over whether they were nutritious enough for children.
Unlike the first lockdown, schools are given a grant from the government, which they can spend on getting vouchers for pupils or getting a contractor to supply parcels.
This time the government has urged schools to try and sort out parcels for the pupils in an effort to help ensure they have a balanced diet.
Until this week suppliers were working on costs of £2.34 a day per student, but on Friday the government increased this by £3.50 a week.
This Chartwells box, which is supposed to be for ten days, and instead of a £30 voucher
The Manchester United and England footballer (pictured with his mother Melanie at a food bank last year) was responding to an outraged mother who slammed a 10-day hamper
This food parcel was supposed to feed a child for a week, but suppliers forgot to add bread
There are huge differences in the quality of food parcels sent to pupils during the lockdown
This is part of two boxes sent every week to feed two pupils during the pandemic restrictions
These sorry-looking veg are part of one of the food parcels sent to students at closed schools
This picture posted online showed a hamper that could be bought from a company for £30
Rashford shared a post by one mother – @RoadsideMum – who posted a picture of a hamper containing bread, cheese, two carrots and a tin of baked beans.
She wrote: ‘Issued instead of £30 vouchers. I could do more with £30 to be honest. The private company who have the #FSM contract made good profit here.’
Rashford commented: ‘Where is this being rolled out? If families are entitled to £30 worth of food, why is there delivery only equating to just over £5?!
This Woodside Primary Academy pupil’s food parcel was supposed to last them a week
Some boxes have been praised by parents. St Dunstans School in Glastonbury were given top marks for this five days one, which included sandwiches and wraps from Real Wrap Co
‘1 child or 3, this what they are receiving? Unacceptable.’
Next to another picture of a small food parcel, he said: ‘3 days of food for 1 family… just not good enough.’
The 23-year-old continued: ‘Then imagine we expect the children to engage in learning from home.
‘Not to mention the parents who, at times, have to teach them who probably haven’t eaten at all so their children can… We MUST do better. This is 2021.’
He added late this morning: ‘The value uplift of the FSM Hampers has not yet come into play.
‘We have so many independent businesses who have struggled their way through 2020 – why can’t we mobilize them to support the distribution of food packages? Or am I being naïve?’
Sir Keir wrote: ‘The images appearing online of woefully inadequate free school meal parcels are a disgrace.
‘Where is the money going? This needs sorting immediately so families don’t go hungry through lockdown.’
The Department for Education said it will investigate the claims free school meals do not contain enough food.
It posted on Twitter: ‘We are looking into this. We have clear guidelines and standards for food parcels, which we expect to be followed. Parcels should be nutritious and contain a varied range of food.’
Children’s minister Vicky Ford said: ‘I will be looking into this urgently – food parcels should cover all lunchtime meals & be nutritious – we’ve increased funding for parcels & will support local vouchers – national voucher also rolling out ASAP, working night & day on this. Hope your kids are ok @roadsidemum.’
She added: One of the reasons why some schools have used food parcels rather than vouchers is that it helps keep them in touch with families.
‘Very sadly during the pandemic there has been an increase in risk to some children. Do call @NSPCC if you are concerned about a child.’
Naomi Willis from Skint Dad commented: ‘While it seems that some food parcels have been good quality, there is a distinct lack of consistency, compared to the previous voucher scheme.
‘The food parcels provided to parents in the current lockdown should be able to feed a child for a week, but what we’ve seen shared by Skint Dad community members falls far short of this and is clearly not good enough.
‘This is adding additional pressure to struggling parents and is letting down children who are caught in the middle.
‘The scheme needs to be reviewed immediately to ensure that all children are provided with enough food or reintroduce the previous voucher scheme today.’
Parents said the meals were dished out to children studying from home by a private contractor.
Government guidance for the free school meals scheme says institutions can apply for an extra £3.50 per student on top of whatever they receive.
It says: ‘We strongly encourage schools to work with their school catering team or food provider to provide food parcels to eligible free school meal pupils who are at home.’
It adds: ‘Where school kitchens are open this should be the approach taken by schools.’
Chartwells said this morning: ‘We take our responsibility to provide children with access to nutritious food very seriously.
‘We have worked hard to produce food hampers at incredibly short notice during these challenging times.
‘Our hampers follow the DofE specifications and contain a variety of ingredients to support families in providing meals throughout the week.
‘In the majority of instances, we have received positive feedback.
‘In this instance, the image on Twitter falls short of our hamper specification and we are keen to investigate with the relevant school so we can address any operational issues that may have arisen.’