The universal free school meal funding rate for infants has been increased by 5p.
Schools will get £2.58 for each eligible pupil towards a meal for 2024-25, which will be backdated to September, the Department for Education has announced. The rate was £2.53 in 2023-24.
However, campaigners have warned that the small funding uplift “won’t touch the sides”.
Last week, the school food organisation LACA wrote to the prime minister Sir Keir Starmer asking him to increase funding for free school meals.
In the letter, LACA said the cost of ingredients has risen, and with inflation, this has made it increasingly difficult to maintain the standard of school meals served to children.
A report from School Food Matters in October found the “true cost” of a school meal is £3.16, meaning £2.58 is still 58p below what is needed per meal.
School leaders’ union NAHT general secretary Paul Whiteman said the increase will “still leave many schools having to subsidise free infant school meals from budgets already under considerable pressure after years of real-terms funding cuts under previous governments”.
He added: “Suppliers may have to pass on increased costs of producing meals and, while schools work with them to try and maintain the quality of food provided, school leaders are facing impossible choices about where to cut spending.”
The DfE said today that new funding rates could not be announced during the pre-election period. The additional payment now that the funding has been uplifted will be “delivered alongside the final allocation for 2024 to 2025 in June/July 2025”.
Former school governor and school meals campaigner Andy Jolley told Tes: “The 5p rise won’t touch the sides.
“When there’s a shortfall, it’s the school that has to find the balance from its budgets.”
He added that funding catering for school meals will also be affected by minimum wage and national insurance rises.
Mr Whiteman urged the government to address the situation so schools do not have to use their budget for education to subsidise school meals.
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