Vouchers meant to support families over half-term were sent out late due to a technical fault, leaving some parents struggling to afford food.

Parents at All Saints Academy were left frustrated after government-funded food vouchers for low-income families were issued later than expected over the half-term break.

The vouchers, which are part of the Free School Meals (FSM) scheme funded by the government, are intended to support families during school holidays. However, they were not distributed as planned on Friday, 24th October, leaving many parents concerned about how to manage during the break.

In a message sent to parents this morning, All Saints Academy apologised for the delay, explaining that a technical issue with Wonde, the external system responsible for sending the vouchers, had caused the problem.

“We are very sorry, but the FSM vouchers for the half term holiday were not sent on Friday 24th October. The vouchers had been scheduled to be sent on the 24th October but for some reason Wonde (the system used to email the vouchers) did not release them,” the message read.

“This is being looked into so that it does not happen again in the future. You should have now been sent the voucher as of this morning. Please do let me know if you still have not received it and I can look into this. Again, we are very sorry about this and hope it has not caused too much inconvenience for you.”

The vouchers were finally distributed on Monday morning, just one day before pupils were due to return to school, prompting criticism from some parents who rely on the support to cover the cost of meals during the holidays.

One parent told us the delay had a serious impact on their family:

“The voucher is a lifeline when the children are off school,” they said. “Because it didn’t come through on time, I ended up having to go to the food bank just to get us through the week.”

Another parent said they had tried to contact the school over the half-term to find out what had happened to the vouchers, but were unable to reach anyone.

“I tried calling and leaving messages, but I couldn’t get hold of anyone,” the parent explained. “The school doesn’t check messages during the holidays, so we were left in the dark until Monday morning.”

The school said it is working with Wonde to ensure that similar issues do not occur again in future school breaks.