Rising costs put school meals service at risk in Newcastle

09 Oct 2024

Newcastle City Council official Christine Herriot told BBC News there was a ‘genuine risk’ that the local authority will stop providing its school meals service due to rising costs.

The council currently subsidises the school meals service but needs to make £24m worth of cuts across the next year to balance the books. Research has predicted the council would need to subsidise school meals provision by £2.1m this year.

Christine Herriot, director of operations and regulatory services told BBC News: "The council currently subsidises the provision of school meals and we are working towards putting in place proposals in order to reduce that subsidy over time. But there is a genuine risk to the viability of the school meals service because of the current economic conditions we operate in."

Earlier this year Cheshire East Council announced that it can no longer afford to run Fresh, which provides meals and snacks to 87 schools and employs over 250 people due to rising costs.