Parents hit with 31% rise in school dinner costs in 13 months

Ulster Unionist South Antrim Assembly candidate Liz Clarke has called for an immediate freeze on school meal prices after the Education Authority announced its second increase in just over a year.

The Education Authority now says each meal costs £5.28 to produce, up from £4.28 a year ago. Northumbria University research puts the cost in England at between £3.15 and £3.40.

Liz Clarke said:

“A primary school dinner cost £2.60 last Christmas. From January it’ll be £3.40. That’s an extra £152 a year for every child, or £456 for a family with three children.

“These are working parents who earn just too much for free school meals. They’ve already been hit on energy and childcare, and now twice on school dinners. They’re not a cash machine for a system that can’t balance its books.

“I spent years managing public contracts. If a unit cost jumped by a pound in a year and was around £2 higher than in England, you’d open the books, not send the invoice to parents.

“Schools in South Antrim are being squeezed too. Principals have been told the amount they can spend without permission is being cut from £10,000 to £1,000, with no way to challenge a refusal. When something needs fixing, they’ll be filling in forms and waiting.

“This is all happening because Stormont hasn’t agreed a budget, and children are paying for it.

“I’m calling for four things: freeze the January rise, publish the full costings behind the £5.28 figure, review the free school meals threshold so families on modest wages aren’t left out, and agree a budget so schools and parents can plan ahead.

“Working families in South Antrim deserve a fair deal. On this, they’re being robbed in plain sight.”