Cost of living: Derbyshire school meal price to rise by more than 40%

The council said the catering staff wage bill alone had risen by £1.2m

The cost of school meals in Derbyshire are set to rise by more than 40%, the county council has confirmed.

The Conservative-led authority said it planned to raise the price of a meal from £2.30 to £3.25 from September.

It blamed a statutory wage increase - which cost the council £1.2m - and the rising price of ingredients for the rise.

The Labour group said the rise was "extortionate" and neighbouring councils had seen smaller increases.

The council said its school catering service currently provided more than 60,000 hot meals to children at 358 schools.

The Labour group said other councils had put up their prices far less

Sue Parkes, head teacher at Staveley Junior School, said: "Some families have three or four or more children, so if they have three children in Derbyshire having school meals the reality of that is it's an extra £60 a month to find.

"I think that is going to be really, really difficult for some of my families who are already being hit hard by the cost-of-living crisis."

Council cabinet member for education, Alex Dale, said the decision had been "incredibly difficult".

He added: "However, unfortunately our catering service is not immune to the soaring costs of ingredients and staffing.

"The increase has been calculated to only cover those increased costs so that the service can continue to be viable and sustainable for the future, and there is no intention - nor are we legally allowed - to make any profit from school meals.

"Our prices have always compared favourably to other local authorities and catering services."

'Families struggling'

But Joan Dixon, Labour group leader said the average cost of a primary school meal elsewhere is due to rise to £2.65p, while in Nottinghamshire schools charge between £2.30 and £2.58.

"Families are struggling enough already, so to hike school meal prices by 95p per day for each child will make school meals unaffordable for many families.

"A healthy nutritious meal is very important to help children learn, so they shouldn't be priced out of school dinners.

"The cost increases that Derbyshire cites don't justify such a huge increase which is unfair on families and risks our excellent in-house catering service becoming unviable if not enough families can afford school meals," she said.

The increase will not affect families of Key Stage One pupils, who receive free school meals under the Universal Infant Free School Meals scheme or families of primary or secondary pupils who are eligible for benefit-related free school meals.