Free School Meal Vouchers – National Scheme
The Department for Education (DfE) has launched the national scheme for families who are entitled to Free School Meals. During these challenging times, the DfE want to ensure that pupils eligible for free school meals can continue to access support while they are not in school.
Hodge Hill Primary School has access to an online portal to issue supermarket vouchers to eligible families. This has been set up in partnership with the Department for Education and Edenred UK. The amount they have allocated is £15.00 per pupil per week for those who are eligible.
We have emailed eligible parents with a code. Please check your emails, including your junk, to ensure that you have received it.
How do I use my eCode to select a supermarket eGift card?
1. Go to www.freeschoolmeals.co.uk
2. Enter the 16 digit eCode (you can enter more than one eCode if you have more than one to redeem)
3. Select a supermarket
4. Enter the amount & add to basket
5. Checkout & enter the email address you would like the eGift card sent to
6. Your eGift card will be processed and sent (please allow up to 24 hours for it to be delivered to your inbox)
If you have not received an email please contact the school office on 0121 464 2189.
Please be patient. This is a national scheme; you may find that the website is very busy.
Wednesday 8th April 2020
Free School Meal vouchers for week 2 have been distributed today. Parents please check your emails and text messages. We have sent vouchers out to parents using the mobile number you have given us. These vouchers are valid for 3 months.
Codes are only generated for families who provided us with evidence of Free School Meal entitlement. If you believe you are eligible you will need to provide evidence, but it will take time for the new codes to be generated.
Free school meals are issued to parents who receive one or more benefits or means of support from the government, such as:
A full list can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/apply-free-school-meals
Nationally all children who are in Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 receive universal free school meals. These are different from free school meals as every child is entitled to them, and therefore they are not linked to whether a family is in receipt of benefits. At present the local authority and the government are not providing food vouchers for children who are receiving universal free school meals. If this changes we will inform parents.