Charge for "free" school meals?

[OldMaaa]

My DCs primary school has recently started charging for universal free school meals. Essentially they are asking parents to pay the funding shortfall.

It's only 30p per meal. Not an issue for us and the income/benefits-linked free meals are not impacted. I suppose it seems reasonable that parents make up the shortfall rather than the school using more funds that could be spent on the actual education part of the whole thing.

I just wondered if any other schools are following suit?

They can request a voluntary contribution. They cannot insist that you pay.

The school receives a specific grant of £2.61 per meal. Paid meals in primary schools vary from around £2.10 to £2.90 per day.

Ours doesn’t charge but asks parents to make up the shortfall if they are able.
Many parents who receive the free KS1 meals can afford to top up. That ultimately benefits their child as the school isn’t going into debt paying for the meals and can afford basics like soap and glue sticks etc. Schools have been under funded for years and years now and simply can’t function without fund raising or donations from those parents who are able to.

In real terms, school funding per pupil is now back to the all time high it hit in 2009/10. However, if we take school-specific inflation into account (higher than general inflation due to staff costs, particularly for non-teaching staff, going up by more than inflation since 2022), it is still a little lower than that peak. Taking this into account, schools were better funded from 2007/08 to 20011/12, but pre-2007 and post 2012 they have had to survive on lower levels of funding than they receive today.

At our first school we have a very active PTA that raises fairly significant amounts of funds each year. Most is used for specific projects such as upgrading playground equipment, replenishing the library or subsiding trips. However if there is a shortfall of the type you describe then we would make a donation to cover that.

We raised over 40k last year and we’re not a big school so it can make quite a difference.

We found doing it this way much easier than asking everyone for money for specific things. You do need a lot of engaged parents for it to work though.

I would have no objection to this. The alternative would be reduced quality of school meals, or reduced spending on education.

When my children got universal free school meals I made a donation equivalent to what I would have spent had they not been free to the school.

That is, of course, up to you but the school receives a specific grant to fund universal free school meals. Currently, it is set at £2.61 per pupil per day. This is more than most schools charge paying pupils.