Petition · past parliament

Keep the Free School Meal Voucher scheme until September 2020.

Rejected 16 signatures

What the petition asks

As part of the COVID-19 recovery strategy, maintain the current free school meal voucher scheme until September 2020 so that parents of disadvantaged pupils can “get on their feet” and pupils are ready for the next academic year having been fed properly over summer.
I work in Stoke-on-Trent as a teacher. I, at one point in my life, had free school meals. I know first hand the issues that families who receive free school vouchers go through. If we can keep these children properly fed over summer it will not only help these families get back on their feet but also give the students a decent start to the next academic year. DfE data shows 25% of stokes school population are eligible for FSM. 34% were eligible in last 6 years. We can’t let them down like this.

Why it was rejected

The UK Government or Parliament was already taking the action it asked for.

Since you started your petition, the Government has extended the voucher scheme to cover the school summer holidays. For more information visit: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/covid-summer-food-fund.

You can find out more about coronavirus and how you can protect yourself and others here:

www.gov.uk/coronavirus
https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/

The Government has also created an online service to help you find out what you can do if you’re struggling because of coronavirus: https://www.gov.uk/find-coronavirus-support

You can read NHS tips to help if you are worried about coronavirus here: https://www.nhs.uk/oneyou/every-mind-matters/coronavirus-covid-19-anxiety-tips

You can read impartial analysis of the Government response to coronavirus and policy developments here: https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/coronavirus/

You may also be interested to know that because of the large number of petitions that have been started in relation to coronavirus, the Petitions Committee has been questioning the Government about its response to the coronavirus outbreak.

Find out more: https://committees.parliament.uk/work/192/the-governments-response-to-coronavirus/

Timeline

15 Jun 2020 Petition opened for signatures
24 Jul 2020 Rejected by the Petitions Committee

Key facts

Signatures 16
Status Rejected
Rejected 24 Jul 2020

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Source: the official petition page. Last checked 15 Jul 2026.