Free School Meal Vouchers - Easter Holiday

The COVID Winter grant was initially issued in November and could be used up until 31st March 2021. In mid-late February, the DWP suggested through webinars that the grant could be used to purchase FSM vouchers before 31st March for use during the Easter holidays (after 31st March). The City Council had previously understood the Easter holidays were outside of the scope of the Winter Grant Scheme, but following this new information from the DWP, elected to utilise some of the available resource within the grant to purchase FSM vouchers for eligible families for the Easter holidays. There was not enough time to go through a thorough procurement process, and Coventry schools already had existing arrangements in place to engage with the Wonde process, a decision was made to award in accordance with Reg32.