Lancashire schools contract goes to BET
BET Catering Services has been awarded a four-year contract by Lancashire County Council to manage its school meals service from 1 April.
The contract, with a reported annual turnover of more than £20m, is thought to be the biggest school catering service in England and Wales, serving more than 16 million meals a year.
BET has been awarded a total of 12 contracts covering the whole of Lancashire, giving it responsibility for feeding more than 200,000 children a day in 691 schools.
The service, which was put out to tender under compulsory competitive tendering (CCT) legislation, was previously operated by the county council's direct service organisation (DSO).
Although all the DSO's 3,000 staff will be taken on by BET under transfer of undertakings (TUPE) regulations, a council official expressed regret that they would no longer be employed by the authority.
Stan Wright, chairman of the education competition sub-committee, said: "The strict rules made by the Government on CCT placed the county council's own workforce at a disadvantage and unable to compete on fair and equal terms with the private sector."
Local sources said BET had won the contract in a close decision over Compass, the strength of its existing position in the school meals sector just giving it the edge over its larger rival.
About 80% of BET's existing £40m turnover is from school catering operations in Kent, Berkshire, Gloucestershire, Greater London and Greater Manchester.
Managing director Jim Walker said that having established itself successfully in southern England and the North-west, the company hoped to expand into the North-east and the Midlands, where the contract for Birmingham is already out to tender.
"We recognise the importance of meal times in the working life of schools," he added, "and see it as an opportunity to help children develop sound eating habits by serving nutritionally balanced meals."
A decision is also expected this week on Bedfordshire school meals service, which provides 7.2 million meals a year in about 300 schools. Compass and the council's DSO are rumoured to have been shortlisted.
