No hot lunches at several South Gloucestershire schools, council reveals
A staff shortage means seven schools can only serve sandwiches at lunch
Pupils at seven South Gloucestershire schools are going without hot meals at lunchtime because of a dinnerladies staffing crisis, it has been revealed.
The council admits it can provide only cold food, such as sandwiches, or jacket potatoes at best because of the chronic recruitment shortage in catering but insists youngsters are getting the nutrition they need.
Schools in Thornbury, Downend, Little Stoke and a number of other villages are among those affected by the vacancies, which currently stand at 23 across the district.
The issue was raised at a South Gloucestershire Council cabinet meeting by Thornbury ward Lib Dem Cllr Jayne Stansfield.
She told the meeting on Monday, November 14: “Apparently the children in Thornbury have not been having access to the hot meals they expect due to high levels of staffing vacancies.
“So I would like to know what is being done to ensure that they do get their hot meals now and also into the future.”
Conservative cabinet member for corporate resources Cllr Ben Burton said that Integra, the local authority’s trading arm which provides services to its schools, was finding it as hard as many other hospitality and retail companies across the country in recruiting for roles.
He said: “It’s a testament to the team that you can see management stepping in where possible in order to try to continue to deliver the services to schools.
“The impact that has had is obviously some schools have been placed on the cold service, the sandwich service, which still provides the nutritional benefits and a balance in accordance with what Integra is looking to provide, but of course it doesn’t substitute necessarily for hot school meals.”
He said two or three vacancies had now been filled at Crossways school in Thornbury, which was one of those unable to provide hot lunches but that these were starting up again this week.
“We are making every possible effort to recruit staff to those roles and we will endeavour to get schools back onto those hot school meals as soon as possible,” Cllr Burton told the meeting.
A South Gloucestershire Council spokesperson said: “Recruitment for catering and hospitality roles is proving very challenging across the country at the moment and where we have had vacancies and staff sickness on occasion, we have had to suspend hot meal services to some schools for periods of time.
“This is of course regrettable, however where sandwiches are being provided as part of a lunch service we continue to maintain high nutritional standards and provide a balanced meal.
“In any case where we need to temporarily alter the service provided, we work with the schools so they are aware of the situation and seek to restore hot meal provision as soon as possible.
“We are continuing to work hard to fill the existing vacancies and as part of the nationally agreed pay negotiations, hourly rates for these staff are due to increase this month with our lowest paid staff seeing a 10.5 per cent increase to £10.50 per hour.
“We have also recently recruited to a number of roles supporting Crossways School which has seen that service restored this week.
“We currently have 23 ongoing vacancies, which is affecting our ability to provide hot meals to seven schools and this situation can be worsened when we experience staff sickness.”
The schools currently unable to provide hot food are:
Little Stoke Primary School, New Siblands School in Thornbury, Pathways in Downend, St Andrew’s Primary School in Cromhall, St Augustine’s Primary School in Downend, Tortworth VC Primary School and Wick CE VC Primary School.
The council could not say how long each school had been affected but that it could be longer term if there were unfilled vacancies or shorter in cases of extended periods of staff sickness.
The type of food provided instead of hot meals varies but while most pupils are given sandwiches, some also get the option of jacket spuds or baguettes.