School meal prices increase in Hampshire
It's another extra cost for families
Last updated 26th Apr 2022
The price of a school meal in Hampshire has gone up this week (from Monday 25th April).
It's increased 10 pence to £2.60 per day.
Hampshire County Council is blaming rising food prices for the increase, but says they're working to keep costs affordable for families.
A spokesperson for HCC said:
“In common with school caterers nationally, our catering service (HC3S) is experiencing significant increased costs including those resulting from rising food prices, which has led to a small increase in the cost of a daily meal from Monday 25 April. HC3S works extremely hard to keep meals affordable for families and actively promotes the availability of free meals for all those who are eligible.”
In Wiltshire, the Council hasn't put a blanket increase in place, but the local authority says some schools and trusts may have implemented an increase themselves.
MORE FAMILIES IN NEED OF FREE SCHOOL MEALS
Meanwhile, new stats show vulnerable children in Wiltshire and Hampshire are more likely to receive free school meals than five years ago, new figures show.
Data from the Department of Education shows that by the end of the 2020-21 school year, 52% of Hampshire's children in need were eligible for free school meals – up from 37% at the same point in 2016-17.
In Wiltshire, 46% of children were eligible in the last school year, compared to 34% in 2016-17.
A child in need is defined by the Government as a child who needs support from their local authority to maintain a decent standard of development and education.
This includes children with disabilities and special educational needs, young carers, children who have committed crimes, and those with parents in prison.
Free school meals are available to children who have parents receiving benefits or are on incomes of less than £7,400.
The figures cover children in need who are not in receipt of a children protection plan and are not in foster homes or adoption.
Azmina Siddique, Policy and Impact Manager at charity The Children's Society, said that the pandemic has been devastating for low-income families:
"While some year-on-year increase in the numbers of people qualifying can be put down to certain protections in the system as Universal Credit is fully rolled out, it is also likely the increase in free school meal uptake is due to growing need.
“Free school meals provide vital help to families – saving them over £400 per child each year – but too many families simply don’t qualify, meaning hundreds of thousands of children are missing out."
It's believed some of the rise could be explained by protections on access to free school meals, as since 2018, pupils eligible remain so for several years, even if their circumstances change, for instance if their parents no longer receive benefits.
A Department for Education spokesperson said:
“We want to ensure every eligible child has access to free school meals, which is why we have expanded access to them more than any other government in recent decades.”