Management Information Sheet

Support has been extended to cover the period April - October 2022 for pupils eligible for means-tested Free School Meals.

NB: Where appropriate, please pass this message on to the person in your school/ Trust that orders food vouchers for eligible children.

Norfolk County Council has today (6 May 2022) released details of its new Norfolk Cost of Living Support Scheme, to support families in need.

This includes a monthly voucher award for children eligible for means-tested free school meals (FSM), as well as additional support for families through the Norfolk Assistance Scheme.

The council is topping up £6.7m of Government funding from the Household Support Fund with a further £1m to help a range of groups who are struggling to pay for food, fuel and other essentials.

£4.6m is being used directly to benefit children and families with a monthly allocation of EdenRed vouchers for children eligible for free school meals. This includes children in the early years who receive EY Pupil Premium, those in post-16 education in receipt of bursary funding and those Elective Home Educated children that the council is aware of that would be eligible to means-tested FSM should they attend school.

We are again asking all Norfolk schools and colleges to order vouchers for their means-tested FSM-eligible pupils to cover the period April 22 - October 22 via the NCC EdenRed portal. NCC is covering the cost of these vouchers. Therefore, to reduce the administrative burden on schools and to ensure all orders placed are distinguished from school term time orders and avoid being charged, please follow the instructions below carefully.

Ordering instructions: please follow carefully

NCC are not linking the food vouchers to the school holidays but are issuing them monthly to help families with the cost of living. Parents/ carers may choose to save vouchers rather than spend at the time of issue so they have more funds available during the school holidays if they wish to, within the constraints of the three-month expiry date of the vouchers. Note: If vouchers expire, they cannot be reissued.

The schedule for the placing of the HSF2 FSM voucher orders is as follows:

Month	Value £	Go live date	Expiry date	Monthly Order Ref	Consolidated Order Ref
April	15	No later than 20 May	No later than 20 August	1 HSF2 AM	1 HSF2 AA
May	15	No later than 20 May	No later than 20 August	1 HSF2 AM	1 HSF2 AA
June	15	17-Jun	17-Sep	2 HSF2 Je	1 HSF2 AA
July	15	15-Jul	15-Oct	3 HSF2 Jy	1 HSF2 AA
August	30	12-Aug	12-Nov	4 HSF2 Au	1 HSF2 AA
September	15	16-Sep	16-Dec	5 HSF2 S	2 HSF2 SO
October	15	14-Oct	14-Jan-23	6 HSF2 O	2 HSF2 SO
Total	120

Schools may place their orders monthly or consolidate them into two orders; the first for April - August and the second for September and October which will take into account pupil movements in the new academic year. Depending upon which option you choose, please use the correct order reference as shown in the columns above.

It is important that if you choose the consolidated order option you enter the correct 'go live' dates on your CSV file before uploading it into the EdenRed portal so that the vouchers do not become available to parents/ carers too early.

Please refer to your Edenred user guide for instructions: www.edenred.co.uk/Documents/Select/clients/SelectGrocery-FSM-Admin-Userguide.pdf

All schools will need to order April and May immediately, whichever option you choose.

Any pupils newly eligible to FSM may join the schedule at the point they become entitled.

Newly appointed staff

If you are a newly appointed Headteacher or have new admin staff and are unsure about using the EdenRed portal, please e-mail fsmf@norfolk.gov.uk as soon as possible to arrange for your log-in to be set up.

Queries

Any other queries in relation to voucher orders should also be directed to the Free School Meals Finance Team at fsmf@norfolk.gov.uk. NB: please do not contact EdenRed directly.

Please continue to encourage eligible families to register for free school meals as this will enable them to qualify for these vouchers as well as the other support available.

You may wish to share this link on your own Facebook pages to promote the scheme to your parents and carers: www.norfolk.gov.uk/education-and-learning/schools/school-meals-and-milk

Please note that the free school meal vouchers will only be available to those who are eligible and have registered.

Families in hardship and needing wider support

In addition to the offer of FSM vouchers for eligible families, there is support available for families who are facing hardship and need support.

Anyone experiencing hardship may be able to receive support through the Norfolk Assistance Scheme (NAS), which may be able to provide support for food, fuel, clothes and other essential household items to families experiencing hardship. Wider support from a range of partners can then also be made available with NAS working alongside the Children's Services Community and Partnerships service.

Families may get in touch with NAS via their dedicated website which includes an online application form, at Norfolk Assistance Scheme - Norfolk County Council or if they cannot access the internet, they can call 0344 800 8020.

Thank you to colleagues for continuing to support vulnerable children and families.