The Whitehall spending watchdog said French company Edenred had “insufficient” capacity to cope with demand for the temporary voucher scheme, with calls peaking at 3,940 per day in April. The report found the Department for Education did not know whether Edenred had made a profit from the chaotic scheme or how many children used the vouchers. The final cost of the scheme was estimated to be £384 million in October. Footballer Marcus Rashford forced Boris Johnson to u-turn twice on scrapping the scheme in the school holidays with a high-profile social media campaign. Around 1.4million children in England were eligible for free school meals in January.

Source: Daily Mirror December 02, 2020 00:01 UTC