News

The three school visits took place in March with the first one taking place at Earlham Primary, hosted by contract caterer The Pantry. The next two school visits were hosted by IFG at Westwood Academy and Pimlico Academy.

During the visits DfE representatives had the opportunity to view the school catering service in action. A discussion was then held covering:

• Challenges faced by school caterers
• Debate of free school meals vs paying for meals – identifying the gap/ subsidy required to meet the standards observed
• National Insurance labour cost increases
• Announcement that 50% of menus should be filled with British food
• The benefits of auto-enrolment for free school meals
• Ringfencing free school meals funding from the Government
• Early adopters of the Government’s Breakfast provision

Bryan Lygate, managing director at Impact Food Group, commented: “We were delighted to host this important visit at Westwood Academy, highlighting the quality of school food and the challenges facing all school caterers.

“Rising costs and funding pressures continue to add strain, making it crucial to protect and allocate school meal funding effectively. It was great to explore solutions together and consider what’s needed to secure the future of nutritious and quality school food for all students.”

LACA would like to thank the Department for Education for taking the time to visit the schools as well as the caterers who work hard to ensure that children receive a hot, healthy and nutritious meal every school day.

It was an honour to host the Department of Education within one of The Pantry’s schools.

Luke Consiglio, managing director at The Pantry, added: "I was given the opportunity to share with them, the positives, and the negatives within the education sector currently, supported by Earlham Primary School and the Eko Trust. The positives always stem from the people we have within our industry, from the amazing teams within school kitchens, the support teams around them and the schools themselves who want the very best for their children.

"Unfortunately, celebrations around the great work that is done are being put in the shadows as our industry continues to be drastically underfunded. After years of record inflation and unprecedented labour increases, we still find ourselves in a position where the Government aren’t providing enough money to feed children the meals they deserve.

"To make matters worse, our neighbours Wales and Scotland are given more money towards feeding their children and their governments have committed to feeding all primary school children a free meal every day. One hundred and eight other countries have committed to feeding all of their primary school children as part of the School Meals Coalition. It’s time for England to step up, before we fall too far behind!"