• 12,782 Free School Meal vouchers distributed to support families since April 1 2023
• Simple application process for schools
• Administrators maintain accountability with easy to access reporting data
• With over £1bn distributed, Reward Gateway Edenred has been the largest facilitator of cost of living support provide by central and local government over the last five years.

Sector: Local government

Number of UK locations: N/A

Number of families supported: 1,900+

Solution: Select (distribution of public support funds)

What they needed:

Since 2021, the UK government’s Household Support Fund has provided over £2.5bn to local authorities to help support vulnerable people with the cost of living. During this time, the Royal Borough of Windsor & Maidenhead has used over 40% of its allocation to help feed children during the school holidays who would usually receive free school meals.

To make sure the scheme works effectively, the council needs a simple process for getting grocery shopping vouchers into the hands of families who need them. It also needs to account for the money it spends with regular reports to the Department of Work and Pensions. 

How we helped:

Following the start of the Household Support Fund, Reward Gateway Edenred has worked closely with local authorities to make sure the process for fund distribution is simple and effective. Much of this work has involved helping local authorities distribute Free School Meal vouchers using Select eCode vouchers. First developed during the 2020 lockdown, this is now a proven, finely-honed process that Royal Borough of Windsor & Maidenhead has taken full advantage of.

“The Select process for Free School Meals is very simple and easy to manage. Schools apply for food vouchers on behalf of families eligible Free School Meals. It’s then easy for us to approve the application. The vouchers then get distributed automatically – the process is super quick no one falls through the cracks.”

- Sumayyah Zeib, Community Engagement Officer

What they achieved:

Over the last three years Reward Gateway Edenred has worked with Royal Borough of Windsor & Maidenhead to distribute many thousands of Free School Meal vouchers, including over 12,500 vouchers since the start of April 2023.

Another benefit is that the Community Engagement team can pull data from the Select platform for reports to the Department of Work and Pensions, helping it to prove that funds are distributed effectively and are used for their intended purpose.  

Most importantly, the Free School Meals scheme means that over 1,900 families have received this critical support.

“Rising living costs mean that demand for support is increasing all the time.” adds Sumayyah. “We need the Free School Meals scheme to run efficiently. We need it be easy for schools to manage and for parents to get the vouchers they need quickly. With the Select platform that’s exactly what we’ve been able to achieve.”