School meal price cut as numbers drop

There is concern that many families are being priced out of school meals, after Powys County Council dropped the price this term to entice more children back.

The 10p reduction, down to £2.35, has been introduced after the council conceded that the numbers had fallen.

Eating at school has become a costly business with year-on-year price rises meaning that it costs around £100 a month for two children to eat every day.

It has resulted in many families reverting to packed lunches as pressure grows on families’ weekly budgets.

But Cllr Phyl Davies, Cabinet Member for Education and Property, hopes the reduction will reverse the decline: “We have reduced the price of school meals by 10p for the new school year.

“The reduction follows a review of the cost of school meals after we identified a fall in school meal uptake earlier this year as part of the 2019/20 end of year financial outturn discussions.

“I’m sure that the reduction will be welcomed by parents across Powys and we hope it will increase school meal uptake across the county.”

But one parent we spoke to said the council needs to go further.

“It is simply too expensive now,” he said. “I would be spending around £1,000 a year on school dinners if my two ate them every day. Times are very tight at the moment so packed lunches are saving the family hundreds of pounds every year.

“They need to make it fairer for kids like mine as they are missing out on good quality food.”