Modern.gov Breadcrumb
- Decision details
Modern.gov Content
Decision details
Food vouchers for Free School Meals children (May 2023 holidays)
Decision Maker: Chief Executive
Decision status: Recommendations Approved
Is Key decision?: No
Is subject to call in?: No
Purpose:
In the Chancellor’s Autumn Budget
Statement, it was announced there would be a fourth round of the
Household Support Fund to cover the period from April 2023 to March
2024, with a further £1 billion (£842m for England)
being released to councils, to support those most in need with the
cost of food, energy and water bills, phone, broadband and clothing
and in exceptional cases, housing costs.
Due to the late release of government guidance and the impending
May holidays, the Council will use a proportion of the £8m
grant, to assist 22,600 Free School Meal/Pupil Premium children
during this period, by awarding a £15 voucher in respect of
each child. The spend accounts for £340k of the allocation
for this week only. This commitment is in line with previous
support provided to these children for most school holidays since
October 2020, by Bristol City Council.
The contract supplier has been chosen using the CSS framework and
is a continuation of an existing and well-established good quality
provision by them. A full procurement process will be in place for
any future spend in this area and is included in the May Cabinet
report. This OED is to enable a ‘bridging’ contract to
allow for food vouchers to be in place and distributed before 26
May 2023.
Decision:
To spend up to £340k of the
Council’s allocation from the Household Support Fund for
April 2023 to March 2024 to provide Free School Meals vouchers to
22,600 children over the May school holidays and use the Crown
Commercial Services (CSS) voucher framework to appoint the contract
supplier Hawk Incentives.
The Cabinet member for Finance, Governance, Property and Culture,
the Chair of Resources Scrutiny commission, the Mayor’s
Office, the deputy S151 Officer and the Monitoring Officer have
been consulted prior to this decision being taken.
Alternative options considered:
It was hoped that the May Cabinet decision,
which includes a corporate procurement process for food vouchers
ongoing, would be in place to enable schools to distribute before
the 26 May 2023 deadline, but due to further work required and
tight timescales to enable this to happen, this was not deemed to
be practical.
Other options were considered, including adding these funds in to a
wider Hardship Support Fund solution, but due to the timing of the
government and impending May school holiday, it is believed that
this is the most effective and efficient way to target low income
families. It also builds on the same infrastructure and processes
that have helped the same families with food poverty over the last
30 months, in school holidays.
A standalone tender exercise was considered but rejected on the
basis that the supplier chose via the CSS framework, provides good
value and is one that has also been used via a similar competitive
tender exercise.
Publication date: 15/03/2023
Date of decision: 23/02/2023