Council pauses plan to increase cost of school meals in Nottinghamshire

Opposition councillors said parents were in uproar about the rise

Nottinghamshire County Council has paused plans to increase the cost of a school meal by more than 15%.

It had planned to raise the price of a council-supplied meal from £2.55 to £2.95 from 16 October.

The Tory-run council said the planned rise was a response to rising energy and staff costs.

However opposition councillors raised concerns the increase will be passed on to already struggling parents.

Further debates will now be held over the proposed price hike. The council said that meant the increase will not be introduced in mid October as originally planned.

The Independent Alliance opposition and Labour Groups at County Hall told the Local Democracy Reporting Service there had been uproar from parents about the rise.

'Out of touch'

Francis Purdue-Horan, an independent councillor who called the decision in for further scrutiny, said: "We welcome the fact that this shameless decision by the Tories has been paused.

"We are meeting Tory and county bosses on Monday when the Independent Alliance will be repeating their call for them to axe these cruel, callous plans.

"Planning to increase the cost of school dinners by 15 per cent in the middle of a cost of living crisis shows how out of touch the Tories are."

A council spokeswoman said: "The proposed school meal price increase is currently being considered under the county council's call-in process.

"Therefore we are not in a position to put the planned price rise in place from October 16, and have this week written to those schools that use our catering services to let them know about this latest update.

"We'll be in touch with schools again once the call in process is completed."