Parents in England are set to pay more for school lunches as caterers blame rising costs.
Households in England face school lunch shake-up from next week
All UK households whose children have school lunches have been warned they will have to fork out more in September. Parents in England are set to pay more for school lunches as caterers blame rising costs.
At Coleham primary in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, meals will rise by 10p a day to £2.60 from September 2025 because of “rising operational costs”.
Bridge Hall primary in Stockport, Greater Manchester, said charges would rise by 8p to £2.73 and Fernhurst Junior in Portsmouth has hiked prices to £2.86, according to reports.
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Other rises include West Vale Academy in Halifax (£2.60) and Kingskerswell Church of England primary school in Newton Abbott (£2.75).
“All schools will be navigating the impact of rapidly rising food costs,” said Paul Whiteman, general secretary of the school leaders’ union the National Association of Head Teachers.
“Sometimes school dinners are the only reliable nutritious meal a child will get that day, so for this to be of worse quality or more expensive is extremely concerning.”
Judith Gregory, chair of LACA, which represents public and private sector caterers in schools, said they were “doing everything possible to shield families by streamlining menus, adapting recipes and finding efficiencies”.
“Food inflation has driven up the cost of school meals by more than 20% since 2020,” she said. “Without urgent action to raise funding to at least £3.45 per meal, schools will be forced to reduce options or introduce less costly ingredients, while families just above the free school meal threshold face higher charges.”
“School leaders are deeply worried,” said Whiteman. “They are seeing more families struggling and more children living in poverty – child hunger is a real concern. There is only so long schools can keep swallowing the increases. For many, putting up the cost of meals is now the only option.”
The Labour Party Department for Education said the government has taken “a historic step to tackle the stain of child poverty, offering free school meals to every child from a household that claims universal credit from the start of the 2026 school year”.
A spokesperson added: “The new entitlement will be fully funded and lift 100,000 children entirely out of poverty. To make sure meals are high-quality and nutritious, the government is working with experts to revise the school food standards, and we will continue to work closely with the sector to keep meal rates under review.”