Agenda item

To note a decision taken by the Leader of the Council on a matter of urgency.

Details of the urgent action taken by the Leader of the Council were given, in relation to giving approval to authorising the Acting Operational Director of Children and Education to allocate £90,000 of the Extended Local Support Grant and £180,000 from the Emergency Covid Funding to provide food vouchers to families with children who are eligible for a free school meal for the October 2021 school half term period, be received.

The matter was urgent and could not be delayed until the next Cabinet meeting as otherwise the opportunity to fund meal vouchers for the October half term week would have been missed.

Reasons for Decision

It was proposed to continue to support vulnerable families in receipt of Free School Meals with food vouchers for the upcoming school half term holiday.

The proposal was possible with the recent announcement by the Government that a new grant allocation, the Household Support Grant, in the sum of £3,471,442, would shortly be allocated to the Local Authority, 50% of which should be made available to support households with children.

As the total value of the vouchers was estimated to be in the region of £267,000, executive approval was required to allocate grant funding and approve spend above £250,000.

An urgent decision was requested to avoid losing the opportunity to fund meal vouchers for the October half term week.

For children on a school roll, Schools would receive a payment from the Council to purchase vouchers directly from Wonde, continuing with their existing procurement arrangements.

For children not on a school roll, vouchers would be purchased and issued to parents / carers using Black Hawk, a specialist company previously engaged by the Authority.

An urgent decision by the Leader of the Council was requested to proceed with allocation of the grant funding identified to purchase meal vouchers for children, either in receipt of Free School Meals, or not on a school roll but who would be eligible to receive Free School Meals.

Alternative Options

Do nothing was not a realistic option as to date the council’s food voucher scheme has supported some of our most vulnerable families.

Use of alternative voucher suppliers:

Children on roll: schools had the option to use Wonde, who they had primarily used for previous schemes, or to approach alternative voucher providers.

Children not on roll: research undertaken prior to extending the original Black Hawk contract to issue food vouchers found that either, not all major food retailers based in local communities were available through the voucher supplier, or that for those that were listed, limited food options were available to families.

Increased vouchers value: The current value was in line with the Free School Meal daily price per meal.

Development of a Council Voucher Scheme: the requirement was time limited, requiring extensive negotiations with major food retailers based in our communities. The cost benefit analysis of continuing with recent providers, namely Wonde and Black Hawk with a tailor-made package far outweighs the work and cost required to negotiate a small package

for the expected procurement value, and short contract period.

Received the details of the urgent action taken by the Leader of the Council, in relation to giving approval to Acting Operational Director of Children and Education to allocate £90,000 of the Extended Local Support Grant and £180,000 from the Emergency Covid Funding to provide food vouchers to families with children who are eligible for a free school meal for the October 2021 school half term period, be received.