Lancashire Covid food voucher problems 'should not have happened'

The vouchers were to help people buy food and pay bills

Sending families support vouchers that could not be used was not acceptable and will be remedied "as quickly as possible", a council has said.

The unredeemable tokens, which were worth up to £80, were distributed to households in Lancashire as part of the £170m Covid Winter Grant Scheme.

The funds were to help with food and household costs, such as utility bills.

Lancashire County Council said it was investigating the error and urged those affected to get in touch.

The council told the Local Democracy Reporting Service it was investigating how the problem had occurred.

One mum from Morecambe had described it as like having the money "dangled" in front of her, only for it to be taken away.

Edenred, the company which supplied the vouchers, said the issue was "caused by an error when the council distributed the codes over the Easter holiday".

"We are working with the council to ensure the codes are re-sent as soon as possible," a spokesman added.

A spokesman for the authority said it was "so sorry this has happened".

"It isn't acceptable that people who have been promised these vouchers have then been unable to access them, and we want to fix it as quickly as possible," he said.

"We want to be clear; this should not have happened, and we apologise again for letting you down."

Anyone who had an issue with the vouchers has been asked to contact the council so a new working code can be issued.

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