Calls for more help to stop school meal debt building in North Ayrshire
It comes after the council wiped out £94,000 worth of school meal debt
After £94,000 of school meal debt was wiped by North Ayrshire Council, opposition councillors are now calling to make sure it doesn’t accumulate again.
Debt for school meals in primary schools across North Ayrshire was sitting at around £80,000 while the figure for secondary schools was around £14,000.
It’s not the first time the issue has been raised in North Ayrshire, after Labour’s Nairn McDonald called on the debt to be scrapped 9 months ago when it sat at around £60,000.
Although the Irvine councillor is happy it’s been wiped, he tells Greatest Hits Radio News it should have come earlier and wants the council to introduce measures to ensure the debt isn’t racked up again.
He said: “I’m glad we finally got there, but I think it’s a shame it took 9 months of pushing and prodding to get councillors to finally support it. But there is no doubt this will have a huge impact for families during the cost-of-living crisis.
"How do we make sure this doesn't happen again?"
“Now we have to ask; how do we make sure this doesn’t happen again, how do we make sure that more debt isn’t accumulated over the next few years, and for that the council need to pull their finger out and roll out universal free school meals to all primary school pupils.
“The money is there; it was set aside for capital works by the last administration. We just need to get on with it and urge the Scottish Government to bring it in across the board.”
The SNP led administration voted down the debt wipe in September 2022 but have now made the decision 9 months later.
Depute leader Shaun Macaulay tells Greatest Hits Radio that now is the right time, as they have used money from anti-poverty initiatives introduced this year, instead of using the reserve funds that Labour suggested last year.
He said: “We set aside around about 1.5 million pound to fund anti-poverty work, and when we looked at that we decided we could use this.
“So, it wasn’t about scrapping debt, it was about paying for it, and what has changed since last time is that the council have paid off the debt ourselves instead of using reserve funds.
Steps already being taken to support parents
For preventing the debt from accumulating again, Councillor Macaulay said they are already taking measures to help parents.
He added: “We have increased our financial inclusion team and putting them into schools in North Ayrshire to give families that full support around debt management and finances in general.
“We think we’re in a much better place to give families that clean slate and provide that wrap around support going forward.
“We’re working with third sector organisations like CHAP and children first who are already giving advice to parents now, and they will be based in schools.”