Olden Life: What were luncheon vouchers?
Nowadays we all tend either to skip lunch or to grab a sandwich at our desks. But after the Second World War, everyone was encouraged to stop work and have something substantial to eat. A hot lunch was thought to transform afternoon apathy into efficiency, and the introduction of luncheon vouchers, at a time when there was still food rationing, aimed to make a proper meal affordable.
The luncheon-voucher scheme started in 1946. To help workers buy a healthy lunch, the government approved tax-free vouchers up to the value of 2s 3d (roughly 11p). At that time, larger firms had begun to introduce canteens on site to enable their staff to be adequately fed. There was even a regulation that all companies with more than 150 employees were obliged to provide a canteen. By giving its workers luncheon vouchers instead, a firm could get round the rules, providing there were restaurants and cafés that accepted them close by.
By 1957, more than 6,000 firms in the Greater London area were using vouchers to help employees with the cost of their midday meal. Companies emerged to take over the administration of the scheme, and they charged a commission for doing so. One of the largest was Luncheon Vouchers Ltd. Their fee was five per cent on the value of the voucher, with a 2.5 per cent discount if accounts were settled within a fortnight. In return, they printed the vouchers, collected them from restaurants and cafés and paid the bills.
The carrot for employers was that giving workers a good lunch would encourage them to work harder and faster, with a cheerier disposition. A 1963 advertisement for luncheon vouchers promised that well-fed employees would be attentive, look alive and feel active. There would be no afternoon slump for those who had enjoyed a midday meal. The picture in the advertisement shows a secretary holding a telephone handset and smiling at her male boss. The caption read: ‘ “Good afternoon,” she said – and it was!’
With their crisp, clean look, luncheon vouchers were rather like Monopoly money. It’s hard to imagine people handing them over in a busy restaurant today, and then rummaging in their pockets to dredge up change to top them up. But a great many restaurants were happy to accept vouchers, and to prove it displayed a circular sticker in their windows – a green LV with rays coming out of it, like the sun.
Luncheon vouchers achieved an altogether racier status after Cynthia Payne (pictured) used out-of-date vouchers as currency for her sex parties in her Streatham brothel. The men gave them to the young ladies upstairs and the young ladies later redeemed them – for cash, rather than a sandwich.
When they were introduced, luncheon vouchers seemed a real bonus for the British workforce, who could enjoy a subsidised lunch – although not a liquid one, as they couldn’t be used to pay for cigarettes or beer.
In 1946, a pint of beer was about 7d (3p) and a newspaper cost a penny. Yet while the cost of living rose, the tax-free concession remained the same. The initial level of 2s 3d was increased in 1948 to 3 shillings (15p) but, despite several subsequent attempts by MPS to raise the amount, it never went up again. In 2013, the government abolished the tax relief altogether.