Council to close school meal service

Cheshire East Council has been subsidising its school catering service

A council-run school meal service will close after being subsidised by the taxpayer for several years.

Cheshire East Council said it could no longer afford to run its loss-making Fresh, which provides lunches and snacks to 87 schools and employs about 270 people.

The authority said it would raise the price of its meals from September until the service closes in April 2025.

This year Cheshire East subsidised the service by about £515,000.

Schools across the borough have differing catering arrangements in place.

Some use the council's service, while others provide their own school lunches or use another third party provider.

In February, the council's Children and Families Committee deferred making a decision on the closure, so officers could hold talks with head teachers.

Councillors were told this week that discussions had taken place with affected schools in March and "it is now essential that we make a decision".

Conservative councillor for Congleton, George Hayes, questioned the impact the price hike from September would have on schools.

'Unsustainable'

“The school where I chair the governing body has set its budget and it has set its budget based on paying £2.42 per meal," he said.

“To then increase that to £3.40 per meal is going to mean that my already very tight budget isn’t going to be tight any more it’s going to be unsustainable and how are we supporting schools?”

Committee chair, Labour councillor Carol Bulman, said: “My understanding is we are subsidising academies and that they will very likely just pass the cost on to parents.”

But Mr Hayes told the Local Democracy Reporting Service after the meeting: “For means tested free school meals, the government only pays a flat rate anyway, so even if Cheshire East are charging three pound something, the government rate isn’t necessarily going to rise in line with that so there’s a net loss there as well, which would affect some of our most deprived schools.”

The committee voted to cease trading Cheshire East’s catering service by April 2025.

Seven councillors voted in favour, two against and three abstained.

This news was gathered by the Local Democracy Reporting Service which covers councils and other public service organisations.