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West Bridgford
Tuesday, February 11, 2025

School meals price increased by over 15% despite opposition calls for more debate

The price the county council charges schools for the meals is set to increase by 40p from £2.55 to £2.95 each.

Nottinghamshire County Council says it’s been forced to make the plans due to rising costs of food, energy and staffing.

It will be down to individual schools to determine whether to pass the cost increases on to families. Free school meals for children who qualify will not be affected.

The council’s Labour group and Independent Alliance attempted to ‘call in’ the decision last month – meaning it would be subject to further debate – claiming there had been errors with the decision-making.

However, both challenges are now confirmed to have failed.

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The opposition groups said there hadn’t been enough advance notice of the rise and that it had been planned without a consultation,

There was also concern about whether it would harm poorest families most.

A report will go before the council’s Overview Committee on Thursday (November 23) rejecting claims that the council had broken any decision-making rules.

It says there is no legal requirement to hold consultations – although there were informal discussions with schools – and the correct procedures were followed.

The response adds children who receive free school meals wouldn’t be financially affected.

The report says: “The duty sits with schools to provide school meals, not the council.

“Schools are at liberty to choose how they provide school meals and how much they charge parents who are not in receipt of free school meals, and could choose not to pass the costs on to parents in full or in part.”

The price hike had originally been scheduled to come into force in October but was put on hold due to the challenge.

Nottinghamshire County Council has not yet confirmed a new date for the rise.

The mechanism of ‘calling in’ a decision is supposed to be used in exceptional circumstances when councillors are severely concerned about the ruling Cabinet’s actions.

Independent Alliance councillor Francis Purdue-Horan, who represents Bingham East and is the group’s education spokesperson described the decision as ‘A dog’s dinner that drove a coach and horses through democracy.’

He claims the decision will impact the poorest children and force many to give up school dinners altogether.

He said: “The reality is that 52,029 children are living in poverty in Nottinghamshire.

“Of those, 25,360 don’t qualify for free school meals.  These are the children who will be impacted most.

“Many of these kids will be forced to give up school meals because of the rising costs.

“The County Council have turned down our request because they say legally they don’t need to consult over the impact of their decision and that the decision to raise school meal prices was properly considered.

“This has not been put to any vote.

“It drives a coach and horses through democracy.

“This whole process has been a dog’s dinner with no thought whatsoever for the children it will impact.

“This is a shameful decision and one that makes lives more difficult for thousands of kids across our County.”

Nottinghamshire County Council’s Cabinet Member for Communities, Councillor John Cottee stated:

“The Council’s decision-making and scrutiny processes have been followed entirely correctly in relation to this decision, meaning it can now be implemented.  A letter will be sent to schools very shortly confirming the date from which this change to the price of a council-supplied school meal will take effect.”

“We gave very careful consideration to this matter before reaching a decision, but in light of the recent spike in inflation it was necessary to balance the rising cost of making and delivering a school meal against our absolute commitment to ensuring that Nottinghamshire children continue to receive a high-quality, nutritious school meal product.”

“Even after this price change is implemented, the cost of school meal in Nottinghamshire will still compare favourably with other areas, and the Council continues to subsidise the overall cost of providing these meals to keep the price as low as we realistically can.”

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