UK NGO School Food Matters latest report calls for more funding for healthy meals

School Food Matters, a charity based in London, UK, has published a new report comparing the country’s funding for school meals to the actual cost of nutritious and environmentally sustainable meals.

The report recommends funding £3.16 (US$4.10) per school meal while the current funding rate is only £2.53 (US$3.28) per school meal. This is £0.63 (US$0.82) below what is needed to improve students’ nutrition and to mitigate the environmental impact of their food.

“Our report today shows that the current funding rate for school meals is outdated and insufficient to unlock the unique potential of our school food system for every child. While caterers and cooks in many schools continue to find innovative ways to provide healthy, nutritious and tasty meals, it’s clear that increasing financial pressures mean other schools cannot cope,” says Stephanie Slater, founder and CEO of School Food Matters.

“We urge the government, ahead of its first budget this month, to adopt our recommended school meal funding rate. This is a fantastic opportunity to set the tone and move closer toward Labour’s manifesto pledge of ‘creating the healthiest generation ever.’”

The report further calls for children entitled to school meals to be automatically enrolled in order to improve participation, as well as for increased funding transparency, more efficient procurement, a “ring-fenced” school food budget, mandatory government buying standards for school food and a mandatory system to monitor food quality.

The school meal cost

For the report, the School Food Matters research team collected and analyzed data in five phases, including a literature review compilation, the collection of qualitative data, cost model development, current and recommended meal cost calculations.

The researchers collected qualitative data through semi-structured interviews with more than 40 experts engaged in the school food system, including school business managers, chefs and education institutions. The data from the literature and the interviews was used to develop a cost model. 

Food School Matters urges the UK government to adopt its new recommended school meal funding rate.One procurement consultant, consulted as part of the research project, states: “The cost of catering has increased dramatically; the formula and system of school needs-budgeting tends to lack dynamism — and is not able to keep pace with the realities of the cost of food and the cost of labor.” 

An in-house caterer adds: “They [headteachers] will find the budget that we need to feed the kids, but it has to come from somewhere — so a failure in this area will look like old sports equipment; it will look like crumbling buildings and infrastructure; it will actually run out into the system of the wider school.” 

In an interview with Nutrition Insight earlier this year, School Food Matters’ Slater, highlighted the need for the then newly-elected UK government to increase funding for school meals in order to improve students’ access to nutrition and health.

Operational challenges

The lack of funding and the related staff shortages are highlighted as a key cause of nutrition insecurity among UK students dependent on school meals. 

One caterer points out: “Recruitment is a problem because since the pandemic, people don’t want to work in the industry.” An industry NGO adds: “We want to see a better-paid workforce. It’s a skilled job. It’s a difficult job. It’s a very busy job. And they are very, very

low paid.”

A supplier details how these issues related to funding and staffing directly impact the nutrition of children. “They’re using a lot of bought-in food, but it’s processed food —

which means the ingredients are actually more expensive. Staff cost is less because they’re using fewer hours.”

Another notable operational challenge outlined in the report is the increasing diversity of dietary requirements due to changing individual dietary preferences and allergies becoming more widespread.

The recruitment of catering staff has become a problem since the pandemic.Environmental sustainability

The stakeholders who participated in the research interview indicated their willingness to take the environmental sustainability of the food products used to prepare school meals into consideration, but also highlighted issues related to funding. 

One in-house chef says: “Sustainable meals are an aspiration, rather than something

that I can deliver, to be honest. It’s completely unsustainable.” 

One larger caterer comments: “We don’t tend to see much sustainability being pushed toward us in terms of menu development and meat content.” Another one adds: “We talk about sustainability quality during a tender process, but it’s seldom managed as you go through the contract.”

Meanwhile, an expert working in the NGO sector points out: “One of the biggest costs, which is a fairly hidden cost across the public sector, is food waste. The amount of food waste in the public sector — including in schools — is huge. I would argue the first sustainability drive would be to reduce that level of wastage.”