Hampshire County Council increasing cost of school meals

Hampshire County Council’s education catering service, HC3S, will increase prices from £3 to £3.20 per meal from September 2, 2024, coinciding with the new academic year.

The previous price increase was in June 2023, when the council made the same increase of 20p.

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The catering service is a self-funding business unit within the county council and 'must' cover all its costs from the income it generates.

The decision report said that the rise is due to the rising cost of staff salaries and food, and keeping the current price would lead to a financial deficit.

The report reads: “Retaining the meal price at £3.00 or increasing the meal price by only £0.10 to £3.10 would lead to a financial deficit for the year due to the proposed pay award.

“Hampshire County Council receives no funding for school meals, as all funding is received by schools. Therefore, the county council cannot subsidise the education catering service and it needs to remain self-funding.

“This price increase is expected to ensure that the service breaks even in financial terms.

“However, should food, and other costs fall, the county council will consider options for any surplus from the education catering service to provide financial support to families in Hampshire, such as the Holiday Activities and Food (HAF) programme.”

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The increase will affect many of Hampshire’s 426 primary schools, 20 secondary schools, and 23 special schools that use HC3S to provide their school catering, and parents and carers who pay for school meals.

More than 183,000 pupils are taught in Hampshire’s maintained and academy schools in Hampshire’s local authority.

HCC said that more than 12,000 free school meal-eligible children attend the county council HAF programme.

A spokesperson said Hampshire County Council was “very aware” of the importance of good nutrition for children and the role it plays in their healthy development, both physically and emotionally.

They added: “The government funds schools direct to ensure meals are available to pupils – that are free to all children in key stage 1 (reception, year 1 and year 2), and to vulnerable older children in families in receipt of certain benefits, with a chargeable option for other pupils.

"Schools are free to choose who they use to provide these meals – and the local authority’s school catering service is just one of a number of providers from which schools may select.

“As we receive no subsidies to provide meals, we must run our service in such a way as to cover our costs.”

The spokesperson said the overall price of food in the UK rose by 25 per cent between January 2022 and January 2024, alongside rising staff costs.

“We have worked extremely hard to contain costs and to minimise any price rises – and at 6.7 per cent, the price increase to come in from September is lower than inflation,” they added.

“Very importantly, it also enables us to ensure continuing adherence to the national School Food Standards, which set the bar for portion size and recommended menu structure to ensure healthy, balanced meals.

“This is a challenging area for all involved – for schools, the local authority and for the parents struggling to make ends meet – and we continue to explore ways in which we can collaborate with our school communities and partner organisations to help address the many issues that are contributing to rising rates of childhood obesity and poor health.”