Schools are having to find tens of thousands of pounds from their squeezed budgets to “cushion” the effects of meal price inflation for their pupils.
Headteachers have warned how catering costs have risen in recent months as a result of factors including the impact of the Ukraine war and increased energy prices.
But some school leaders feel that they cannot pass on the price increases to parents because the children of “just managing” families - those who fall just outside the eligibility for free school meals - will not be able to afford them.
As a result, some are choosing to sell meals at below cost price or set aside money in their budgets in case they have to do so later in the year.
But heads have said this means they will have to cut spending in other areas, such as classroom resources.
The rise in meal costs - at a time when schools are facing a range of other financial pressures - has been called a “brimming crisis”.
Experts and school leaders are calling for the widening of free school meal eligibility.
The way catering is operated varies hugely from school to school, with some providing services “in house” and others bringing in outside companies.
Local authorities often recommend meal prices, but most schools have the freedom to be flexible on the prices they set.
The rising cost of providing school meals
Glyn Potts, headteacher of Newman Catholic College in Greater Manchester, said he was projecting to lose £40,000 on his school’s catering at current rates this year.
He said that for students who pay for lunch and are not on free school meals, a main meal, dessert and a drink cost £2.20.
“We know we are making a loss, but we have families of our children that are struggling,” he said. “It’s feels very counterintuitive to do that [raise prices] at a time when families are being hit even harder during the current climate.
“We will look again in December and see what we can do, but our kids getting a good affordable meal is non-negotiable.”
Paul Gosling, president of the NAHT school leaders’ union and headteacher at Exeter Road Community Primary School in Devon, said the rising cost of catering had become a “real issue”. He said his school charged £2.30 for lunches to those who pay, but that the real cost was 20p to 30p more than this.
“If I turn round to families and say it’ll cost that - they’re struggling as it is. We can’t pass that on, especially if the family has two or three kids at the school”, he said.
Mr Gosling said that up to 2015 the school had tended to break even on meals. Since then, he said costs had gradually overtaken prices but this has accelerated “massively” this year.
“So that money is going from our school budget that would’ve been spent on other things,” he said. “The bit that is spent on resources will probably be what will go. Books, pencils, paper, that stuff will be the only thing we can cut back on.”
Wayne Norrie, CEO of Greenwood Academies Trust, which has more than 30 schools, said the trust had “ringfenced” £1.4 million to “protect families against the cost of inflation” - with this money aimed at subsidising the cost of things like school uniforms and meal price rises.
“We’ll cushion families from those cost increases if they happen,” he said, adding that he had set money aside for this purpose in 2022-23 but would not be able to continue doing so if cost pressures are sustained for several more years.
“There are factors affecting our children and their families at the moment that are beyond schools’ control, but as a school we have to react to these issues and do what we can,” he said.
And he added that one solution to the problem was to widen the criteria for free school meals.
Call to widen free school meal eligibility
Mr Norrie said: “It’s really important that people know how low the FSM [free school meal] threshold is. We need to widen that threshold. There are lots of ‘just managing’ families that are just above this threshold now, that don’t get any support, that will struggle to pay for essentials if prices continue to rise.
“We are seeing this impact, but we don’t see any additional funding from the DfE [Department for Education] for those just-managing families - those that aren’t pupil premium or FSM.”
Children whose families meet a range of criteria, including being eligible for some benefits, are eligible for free school meals, though they are not given them automatically and have to apply.
Andy Jolley, a school meals expert and campaigner, agreed that widening the FSM criteria was needed as a “matter or urgency”.
“Schools should not have to subsidise meals from their teaching budgets. This government is failing all our pupils by forcing schools to divert funding away from staffing,” he said.
“As a matter of urgency and as a bare minimum, they need to automate registration and widen eligibility to include everyone claiming universal credit.”
Stephen Morales, CEO of the Institute for School Business Leadership, said that food price inflation and the energy crisis were making it “very difficult” for schools to break even on catering provision.
“There’s a problem at the moment with feeding pupils at a rate that is acceptable,” he said.
“There are more parents that are not able to afford even the frozen prices. So what some schools are doing is they’re not increasing prices as they don’t want to make it unaffordable to families. This is a brewing crisis and it’s on top of the funding that we need for core provision.”
Geoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL), said that schools were conscious of the fact that many children in families facing “financial hardship” fell outside of the free school meals criteria, and that ASCL had called for the eligibility to be extended to all families receiving universal credit.
“These factors leave schools having to juggle the inadequacy of funding with the imperative to support the many children who might otherwise miss out on a good, nutritious meal every day. The government has to provide a more realistic level of funding for school meal provision, extend eligibility, and tackle child poverty,” he added.
A government spokesperson said: “We have expanded access to free school meals more than any other government in recent decades, which currently reach 1.9 million children. We are also investing millions in the National School Breakfast Programme and are supporting schools with £53.8 billion this year in core funding, which includes a cash increase of £4 billion.
“The chancellor has unveiled a new growth plan, taking decisive action to get households and businesses through this winter and the next, by growing the economy to raise living standards for everyone.”
The government also said it was continuing to keep all free school meal eligibility under review.
