The ‘free school meals swindler’: Primary school deputy headteacher, 36, who stole tens of thousands of pounds in scam involving free food for disadvantaged pupils is facing jail

A respected deputy headteacher of a primary school swindled tens of thousands of pounds in a scam involving free school meals for disadvantaged pupils.

Daniel Reynolds invoiced a council for food when it had been donated by local organisations to feed children during school holidays.

He pocketed more cash by billing parents whose children didn’t qualify for free meals.

The 36-year-old is now facing jail after magistrates told him they didn’t have sufficient sentencing powers for the string of fraud charges he admitted and adjourned the case to a crown court.

Reynolds – who burnished his caring credentials by setting up a separate food bank for pupils last year – was warned ‘all options’ were open when he is sentenced in January, including prison.

A source at West Earlham Junior School in Norwich, Norfolk, said after Reynolds  admitted the charges: ‘It was a total bolt from the blue. No one expected this. We all feel betrayed.

Daniel Reynolds invoiced a council for food when it had been donated by local organisations to feed children during school holidays

West Earlham Junior School in Norwich, Norfolk

‘He was sacked as soon as this came to light and we are just trying to move on from it.’

Reynolds carried out the scam while in charge of administering the school’s entitlement to funding from the Government’s Holiday Activities and Food (HAF) programme, which was paid via Norfolk County Council.

The scheme was rolled out across the UK after Manchester Utd footballer Marcus Rashford’s high-profile campaign for children to receive free school meals during lockdowns.

Holiday activities with meals for pupils were staged at the school during the summer holidays in 2021, the Christmas break that year and into 2022, when Covid meant ‘education was very much an issue’, Norwich Magistrates Court was told.

Reynolds continued running the scheme until the fraud was uncovered. He was dismissed from the school in October last year following an investigation by police and the county council.

Prosecutor Josephine Jones said the offences, involving ‘tens of thousands of pounds’, were carried out by someone who was ‘in a position of trust at the time, which he abused’.

She added: ‘He managed to obtain free meals from a number of organisations but that did not stop him invoicing for them.

Prosecutor Josephine Jones said the offences, involving ‘tens of thousands of pounds’, were carried out by someone who was ‘in a position of trust at the time, which he abused’ (stock)

‘Equally, he charged parents whose children were not entitled to free school meals for food, even though that food had all been obtained without charge.

‘He falsified documents including invoices in order to reclaim that money from the county council but that was money that need not have been spent in the first place because what had ben given was by way of donations.’

Reynolds, who lives in Norwich, was convicted of three charges of fraud by false representation and creating false receipts and documentation when he appeared in court last week. He will be sentenced at Norwich Crown Court.

Hannah Simpson, defending, told the Bench: ‘The guidelines are very clear in terms of culpability because of his role as a deputy head and the figures involved put this matter outside sentencing powers of the magistrates.

Magistrates can impose a maximum 12-month jail term for an offence.

Reynolds appeared in a local newspaper last year when he launched a food bank at the school to help parents and pupils who were struggling with the cost-of-living crisis.

He said at the time: ‘We have children in our classrooms living on the breadline. So many families are struggling, especially with energy prices increasing.’

Adding that he wanted the food bank to feel like a ‘social supermarket’, he continued: ‘We’ve found that some parents are reluctant to come and speak to us.

‘What I’d envisaged is a bank in the school’s reception where parents can come and help themselves to anything you’d normally find in a food bank. We want to break down those barriers.’

West Earlham Junior School, which was approached for a comment, was rated ‘good’ in its last Ofsted inspection in 2019.

The report stated: ‘The school has a very high proportion of disadvantaged pupils and additional funding is carefully spent to meet the needs of this group.’

Some 110 of the school’s 234 pupils, of 47 per cent, qualify for free school meals – nearly double the UK national average of 28 per cent, according to government statistics.

A Norfolk County Council spokesperson said: ‘We are pleased to see that justice has been done in this case.

‘This is down to the diligence of our finance and audit teams, who uncovered and investigated this fraud and reported the matter to the police.

‘Our Holiday Activities and Food (HAF) funding is aimed at providing food and activities for children eligible for free school meals in the school holidays, so it is particularly disappointing that a deputy headteacher would try to defraud the programme.

‘We carry out regular scrutiny and auditing of school budgets and of our providers. This is the first time that we have encountered fraud relating to HAF activities.

‘We will continue to closely monitor the programme to ensure that public money is properly spent.’

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