School caterers join call for extension of free school meals

School caterers including Sodexo and Chartwells have backed calls to ensure the poorest children have access to free school meals.

The Local Authority Caterers Association (LACA), which represents 80% of the UK’s school catering services, said there needed to be an “immediate” increase in funding for the scheme.

A household must earn less than £7,400 a year to be eligible for free school meals under current rules, excluding thousands of children whose parents claim Universal Credit.

Brad Pearce, national chair of LACA, told The Caterer the scheme should be extended to include all children on Universal Credit.

He said: “This is the best way to ensure that no child goes hungry, which is especially urgent given the rising cost of food and cost-of-living pressures facing families across the country.

“Our members have seen certain foodstuff increase by 50% this year alone. That is why we are also calling for an immediate increase in funding for [free school meals] to continue providing hot, healthy and nutritious meals to the most vulnerable children.”

Steve Hawkins, managing director of Sodexo UK & Ireland, a major provider of education catering services in the UK, also revealed that the group is “working closely with schools to find ways to equitably share the inflationary burden" and provide pupils with affordable meals.

He added: “We are working with industry bodies and groups to see how else we can support children, as it is crucial that families are not put into a position where a school meal is out of the question due to increased costs.”

It comes after chef Jamie Oliver told The Caterer it would be “amazing” if caterers could get behind a campaign to ensure all children on Universal Credit are given free school meals.

Oliver said: "It’s not my job to tell them what to do, but it would be amazing if [school caterers] can [help].”

Tom Kerridge also called for an extension of the scheme following his visit to Torridon Primary School in Lewisham as part of the Full Time Meals campaign earlier this month.

The movement was founded by Kerridge and seeks to implement nutritious free school meals for children across the UK.

Charles Brown, managing director of education caterer Chartwells, part of Compass Group UK & Ireland, said: “We have been working with Tom Kerridge and Full Time Meals to promote the amazing work frontline catering teams are doing across the industry and shine a light on the quality of school food.

“We know that many children would benefit from an extension of free school meals eligibility and have the scale and expertise to meet additional needs.”

Henry Dimbleby, author of the National Food Strategy for England, told MPs this week that the extension of free school meals to children on Universal Credit “has to happen and has to happen soon”.

When Chancellor Jeremy Hunt was asked about Oliver’s comments by the *BBC *on Saturday, he said: “This is not an easy time, and we’re not going to be able to do everything that we want to do, but we will be thinking about some of the poorest people in society as we take these decisions.”