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The survey, conducted by the Association for Public Service Excellence on behalf of the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for School Food, found that 49.72% reported that they have seen a decrease in the number of paid meals being served and 36.16% reported a decrease in the quality of packed lunches.

The survey also found that close to 50% of school meal providers who were surveyed had experienced an increase in food costs of at least 20%. The majority of respondents (97.25%) said they expected food costs to continue to rise.

A comfortable majority of respondents (70.33%) believed that extending UIFSM to all primary aged children would assist in alleviating the impact of rising food costs.

Paul O’Brien, APSE chief executive, commented: “The comments paint a picture of caterers and schools putting in significant time and effort to source produce, redesign menus and look at different ways to mitigate and reduce the impact of rising food costs on school food quality and the cost to parents.

“The delivery of school meals in England is complex and has a range of interdependencies, including funding, uptakes, eligibility, quality, and competitive tendering. Short-term interventions such as increasing the funding for a free school meal would be effective and a welcome intervention.

“The pandemic and the cost-of-living crisis has highlighted the importance of a hot, nutritious school meal to all children and especially those from low-income families or of those on squeezed benefits. Therefore, a long-term strategy needs to be put in place to ensure that there is a sustainable school meals service for future generations to come.”

A full analysis of the ‘APPG on School Food Survey: Impact of food cost on school meals’ can be viewed online here.