Children on free school meals left hungry after IT issue hits application process across North Northamptonshire
Cash-strapped parents say they’ve had to borrow money from friends to pay for their children’s school lunches after payments were delayed by North Northamptonshire Council.
A new IT system is being blamed for the issue, which has affected many new free school meals applicants as well as existing applicants who have moved schools.
Parents have contacted our reporters to say they have been placed in financial hardship because of the delays in the system, including one who said she’d had to take a loan to make up the difference.
Free school meals (FSM) are provided to children whose parents are on universal credit and earn less than £7,400 per year, which includes for example many disabled or out of work families, those whose caring responsibilities mean they can’t work, or single parents who’ve been left in precarious financial situations by absent partners.
Children on FSM are given a daily allowance which enables them to pick a limited amount of food and drink every day.
The council has declined to say how many children are affected but our reporters have spoken to parents from different schools. It appears that the root of the issue is that applications are not being processed in time by the council, so lists of eligible children have not been sent to schools and so schools are unable to load the credit correctly onto their own lunch systems.
A mum we’ll call Sarah, whose year seven child started at Weldon Village Academy in September. She said: “I didn’t think much at first because it was taking a while to get things in order.,
"But we’re still having to top up credit for him. The school has been great and I know they’re chasing the council but they have no idea when it’s going to be sorted out.
"It’s four or five pound a day that I just don’t have. It’s extra that I hadn’t planned for. I’m a single parent. I have no safety net. When I phoned the council they asked if I had numbers for the food bank. I already buy my meat in bulk and we eat as well as we can.”
A spokesman for Weldon Village Academy told our reporters the children affected at their school were mostly new starters, particularly those in year seven. A spokesman said: “Our staff have been actively contacting the council on a regular basis to try to resolve the situation as quickly as possible, but at present we are in the same position as other schools across the area.
“We fully recognise the pressure this places on families and will continue doing everything we can to support them while we await resolution from the council.”
One mum, who we’ll call Sasha, said: “I’ve always worked and we had a comfortable life until last year when I had an accident at work and my recovery has taken a very long time. My kids’ dad doesn’t pay anything towards them.
"The summer holidays were really tough because the kids do eat a lot but I struggled through, and I expected them to get free school meals, which at least takes off some of the burden.
"Instead I’ve had to pay for them. The council is apparently going to give us our money back but I’ve had to take a loan to make up the shortfall. I feel absolutely sick about it.
“They’re spending about £3.50 each a day. They take their own drinks and snacks too. I honestly just don’t have any spare money. In the first week on the Friday I just didn’t have any money left to top up his card so he took some crisps in with him and went pretty hungry that day.”
Cornelia Andrecut, Executive Director of Children's Services, for North Northamptonshire Council, said: “Each year there is a high number of free school meals applications that need to be processed for the start of the school year. We are aware there is currently an issue with some free school meals applications, and have brought in extra resources to support with the processing applications which have been impacted by the roll out of a new council-wide IT system. We apologise to any families that have been affected, and are working hard to resolve the issue as quickly as possible.”