School budgets (particularly canteens)

[TroublesomeLuck]

Hi,

Our school has just announced another 4% price rise in the canteen - I guess not surprising at the moment.

They have also included a para to say the school makes no profit on sales from the canteen. I used to work there about 5 years ago and know that certainly at that point in time it made a very healthy profit. Does anyone know whether as parents we are able to request copies of accounts etc?

Thanks very much

You can request accounts under a FOI. If a school has responsibility for their own catering, they will have on-costs for staff (NI, pension, etc) so add on a third to any estimated costs, will have to pay for mandatory training, H&S inspections, etc, and also have to build up a fund for refurbishment, replacement and maintenance. Very few schools are able to make a visible profit on catering.