News

This new ‘managed outsource’ arrangement will see the council purchase and manage the supply of meals from alternative providers on behalf of the schools and nurseries who subscribe to this service.

This will potentially support schools and families to pay a lower price for school meals, which the council says is particularly important given the ongoing cost-of-living pressures. School meals will continue to be available to all children across Hampshire, including those eligible for free school meals.  

Education Catering, formerly known as HC3S, currently provides meals to 364 schools and 33 early years settings in Hampshire. The decision to move to a managed outsource arrangement was agreed by Councillor Steve Forster, the County Council’s Cabinet Member for Education on Friday 6th December. 

While local authorities are ultimately responsible for ensuring free school meals are provided to eligible children, they are not legally required to run their own catering services to fulfil this. 

Forster said: “We are exceptionally proud of all that our Education Catering service has achieved, and I want to thank all staff for their ongoing dedication to the service and for their support throughout what continues to be a very challenging period, with rising food and staff costs impacting the school food industry both locally and nationally.

“In light of these pressures and to cover our costs, we have needed to increase the price of our school meals over time and as such, this now exceeds the amount that schools receive from Government to purchase individual meals.

“With Government funding continuing to fall short, our necessary price increases have placed an added and regrettable burden on our schools’ budgets, with many choosing to move to other more affordable suppliers.”