News

The annual event was attended by LACA ambassadors Tanya and Nadim Ednan-Laperouse as well as key industry figures such as LACA chair Judith Gregory and vice chair Michael Hales.

Over 50 MPs also attended the event to talk with LACA representatives and school caterers about the importance and challenges of providing school meals. Stephen Morgan, the Labour MP for Portsmouth South and Minister for Early Education, attended the event.

Also in attendance was Sharon Hodgson, Labour MP for Washington & Gateshead South; Emma Lewell, Labour MP for South Shields; Gideon Amos, Liberal Democrat MP for Taunton & Wellington; Mark Sewards, Labour MP for Leeds South West & Morely; Ian Duncan Smith, Conservative MP for Chingford & Woodford as well as Ann Davies, Plaid Cymru MP for Caerfyddin.

During the event, LACA noted that free school meals funding should be increased to at least £3.16 per meal to prevent further job losses, protect food quality and ensure every child continues to receive a hot, healthy school lunch.

Gregory said: “This key event in LACA’s calendar, is a great opportunity to showcase all the great work that is done by catering teams to ensure that each pupil has a hot, healthy and nutritious meal.

“The event was very well attended, and we were able to have good discussions with MPs and Ministers around the financial challenges facing the education catering industry. We hope this will strengthen our position as we continue to lobby and campaign for additional funding.”

LACA’s proposed funding increase will also end the postcode lottery that exists, whereby children in England receive less free school meal funding compared to their counterparts in Scotland (£3.30), Wales (£3.20) and London (£3). LACA says the future of school meals and the workforce that delivers them, depends on immediate investment.

Funding the school meal service properly, which provides children with hot, healthy and nutritious meals, is an investment in children - the future generation - and a vital step towards realising the Government’s vision of creating the ‘healthiest generation yet’.

Tanya & Nadim Ednan-Laperouse OBE's, founders of The Natasha Allergy Research Foundation, commented: “We were honoured to attend The LACA Great School Lunch in Westminster Hall. As LACA ambassadors we fully support LACA's call to Government to increase funding for school lunches, so it was great to see such a good turnout of ministers at the event. 

“The recent announcement of 3p increase for universal infant free school meals - taking it from £2.58 to £2.61 per meal, is extremely disappointing and is leading the catering sector to breaking point.

“School caterers are already doing miracles with what little budget they have, but safe, nutritious food options shouldn’t be something they have to stretch and squeeze to make happen - because investing in school meals is investing in better futures for our children.”

These funding challenges come alongside a significant policy change: the removal of automatic entitlement to free school meals for families transitioning from legacy benefits to universal credit. This decision could leave up to one million children without access to their only hot, nutritious meal of the day.

Making matters worse, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) has recently announced that at least 50% of public sector catering must consist of British produce, which LACA says is an impossible ask given the current funding level.

The already published National Funding Formula for the academic year 2025/26 increases the benefit-based free school meal rate by just 1.2% (to £2.61), at a time when the living wage has increased by 6.7% this month.

School caterers have also been hit by the increase in Employer National Insurance contributions, while food inflation is expected to rise by a further 5% by the end of the year. Over the last five years food prices have increased by 50%, during that time funding for a free school meal has increased by only 2%.

The Great School Lunch event was made possible thanks to the industry’s biggest supporters Sharon Hodgson and Emma Lewell. It was an opportunity to showcase the benefits of children consuming a hot, healthy and nutritious school meal.

LACA, the school food people, are the representative body of the school food industry. With over 300 local authorities, county, district councils and London Boroughs represented in the membership, 80% of the school catering service in the UK is provided by LACA members.

Previous LACA School Chef of the Year (SCOTY) winners including Sharon Armstrong, Tom Armstrong, Raheem Morgan, Holly Charnock and Jennifer Brown helped serve examples of school meals for MPs to try. The caterers that provided the food were Juniper Ventures and Waltham Forest.

Four Schoolchildren from Stratford Manor Primary School in Newham and three pupils from Stoneydown Park Primary School in Waltham Forest attended the event. The schoolchildren met with MPs, handed out stickers and talked to industry figures about their experiences of having school meals.

LACA thanked the suppliers including Harfield, Moffat, Reiber, Thomas Ridley Foodservice, Fresh n Fruity, JJ Foodservice, Prescott Thomas, The Pantry Catering and WW Meats who helped make the event a success.

Attendees were given a goody bag when they left containing some treats as well as information on LACA’s campaign for fairer school meals funding.