The new report, which has backing from across the school food sector, found that the current funding rate of £2.53 per school meal is 63p below what is needed, making the “true cost” £3.16.
Ensuring children have access to quality nutrition is essential for their health and learning. This report shows what is needed, and offers the government a clear opportunity to further invest in school meals and break down barriers to opportunity for children up and down the country.
READ THE REPORT
At the launch event, we were privileged to be joined by experts from across the sector, including Labour MP Sharon Hodgson, Managing Director of CATERed Brad Pearce, Oasis UK Founder Steve Chalke, Deputy CEO of the Institute of School Business Leadership (ISBL) Bethan Cullen, and Policy Director for Hunger Solutions (Minnesota) Leah Gardner. We were also grateful for the video endorsements from Leon Co-Founder Henry Dimbleby and TV Chef Tom Kerridge.
TV Chef Jamie Oliver also responded to the report, saying:
"Kids need nutritious food in school as much as they need pens and paper – they can’t learn without it. Good food lays the foundation for happier, healthier students, who go on to have brighter futures. But this report shows it’s getting harder and harder to do. Schools simply aren’t getting the funding they need, and kids are missing out. They deserve better."
WATCH THE WEBINAR RECORDING
Highlights from the launch webinar
Sharon Hodgson MP spoke about her work leading the APPG on School Food and the mission of the Labour government to raise the healthiest generation ever, noting that the funding gap highlighted was “very concerning”. She added that, as a sector, we need to “build on the momentum of change which has been pushed forward by the new government,” and that this report goes a long way in setting out specific steps the government can take.
Steve Chalke, Founder of Oasis UK, focused on the important role school meals play in children’s lives. He said: “School meals are essential for addressing health, including mental health. We know 25% of all children live with a dietary-related disease by the age of 10, and these issues can stay with them throughout life. For most schools, we are responsible for 50% of the students' nutrition.”
Brad Pearce, Managing Director of CATERed and the Vice Chair Elect of LACA, spoke about the significant pressure on the operational side, including how the current funding needs to not just cover food but also cleaning, sourcing and prepping. “The need to cater to special diets and allergies also presents a challenge, as well as staff retention and recruitment. We need to invest in this, otherwise, we risk having more processed food which is bad for both children and in de-skilling staff while core costs continue to rise.”
Bethan Cullen, Deputy CEO of ISBL, said: “Sadly, I am not surprised by the findings. The pandemic proved how important schools are for feeding children and this report really resonated with us. In particular, we really support the report’s recommendations on auto-enrolment which will really help. The increasing pressure on the school food system means the pressure will only heighten with time.”
Leah Gardner, Policy Director at Hunger Solutions, spoke about how her work in the US influenced the Democratic Vice President Nominee and Minnesota Governor Tim Walz to expand free school food across the state. She said: “For our work in Minnesota, we used real life examples of how much impact there is in improving access to quality school meals to win hearts and minds. While we are in early stages, we have seen that the impact is positive and it’s real.”
Highlights from the report
- We found a gap of 63p between current funding for school meals and the ideal funding rate to provide children with nutritious, delicious and sustainable meals.
- The report therefore recommends addressing this funding gap and making the meal price for free school meals and universal infant free school meals index-linked, as well as to implement national FSM auto-enrolment to assist with economies of scale.
- To have further material impact on children’s nutrition, we need funding transparency and efficient procurement. This should include:
- Ring-fencing the school food budget;
- Introducing mandatory quality monitoring for school food.
- The report also advocates, via a quality tariff levied on each meal, to allow local councils to recruit local school food improvement officers to:
- Deliver effective quality monitoring;
- Support schools in delivering a ‘whole school approach to food’ and procuring appropriate resources.
Please contact us if you want to know more about the report or how to get involved with us on this important topic.
Finally, we’d like to extend special thanks to our partner Impact on Urban Health for funding this vital work; to Bremner & Co and Cohesion Consulting for conducting the research; and to all those who kindly contributed.
