Councils set to commit to universal free school meals until 2025
Neil Puffett
Thursday, June 1, 2017
Two councils are set to continue providing free school meals for all primary-age children until 2025 as part of a contract worth as much as £75m.
Islington Council has maintained a universal free school meal policy in its primary schools since 2009, but the current school catering contract is set to expire next year.
Council documents show that, along with Camden Council, it is set to negotiate a new seven-year contract. The combined total cost of the new contract is set to be around £75m.
"The school meals service has been a priority for the council in Islington," a council report states.
"Given our success in increasing take up and the number of schools buying the service, it is imperative that we continue to have a high-quality and well-managed service."
The estimated value of the school catering contract in Islington - which covers a total of 61 establishments - is around £6.3m per year. Around £2.15m of this accounts for the cost of providing free school meals for children currently not eligible.
There are 49 Camden schools in the current arrangement, which has an annual estimated value of £4.2m.
The issue of free school meals has featured strongly in the general election campaign ahead of polling day next week.
Currently, the national policy is that all children in the first three years of school receive a free lunch.
But the Conservatives have said they intend to scrap the scheme, which was introduced under the coalition government in September 2014.
They have said that children from low-income families will continue to receive free school lunches throughout their years in primary and secondary education, and that they intend to replace universal meal provision with universal breakfast provision.
Labour's manifesto states it will introduce free school meals for all primary schoolchildren, covering the estimated £900m cost by removing a VAT exemption on private school fees.
Islington's report highlights the "key risk" that if the government scraps current universal provision for children in the first three years of school, Islington Council would have to find more money in order to maintain its commitment.
Concerns are also raised that if the government's new Universal Credit benefits system leads to a reduction in numbers of free school meal-eligible pupils, there will be a direct impact on the council's budget.