Free school meal funding ‘not enough’ – Manchester catering director says

A 5p rise in government funding paid to schools to provide free school meals is “not enough” amid rising food costs, a catering director has said.

The Department for Education (DfE) has increased the funding to £2.58 per meal, for pupils eligible for free school dinners.

But Adam Curtis, of Dolce School Catering in Manchester, said it cost more than that to provide the food which meant school kitchens had to subsidise the rest or change the offering.

“Every caterer has had to take some money off the meal plate,” he said.

“The latest free school meals increase means that probably around 15/20p will have to come off the child’s food plate,” he added.

The government confirmed the rate would be uplifted by 5p for 2024 to 2025, backdated to the start of the academic year.

Colleges, independent learning providers and sixth-forms can fund free meals for disadvantaged students between the ages of 16 and 18 years old.

Infants are guaranteed a free school meal in England but children in Year 3 and above must be in households on universal credit with an income below £7,400 per year to qualify.

This threshold has not changed since 2018, which means 100,000 (one in four) school-age children in poverty across the North West cannot claim free meals, according to a report.

Mr Curtis said the “small rise” in funding for the free meals could also hit some schools more than others.

“In catering it is all about quantities in scale, so it might be £4 per meal for us to cater for 50 pupils in a small rural school but we might be able to do it for £2.15/£2.20 in a big school with 900 enrolled in London,” he said.

“It is very likely that small, rural schools are going to have to jump up in meal price significantly, they have already.

“A lot of smaller schools are paying £3.50 or £4, and that could be pushing higher than that still.

“You can’t just have one meal price for all schools”.

A DfE representative said funding was constantly under review and action had been taken to tackle challenges felt by struggling families.

“Next year we are tripling our investment in breakfast clubs to over £30m, with delivery of free meals and childcare to begin in up to 750 schools from as early as April 2025,” they said.

They added that the government would continue to fund free lunches for more than three million pupils.