the educator mag Jan 26 - Flipbook - Page 32
2026 must be the
year Free School Meal
funding is fixed
Adam Curtis,
Director at Dolce Schools Catering
system that has forced many local
authority catering services to retreat
or disappear altogether.
What feels different as we head into 2026
is that the sector is no longer whispering
about this problem - it’s speaking with one
voice. At recent industry events, including
LACA’s Autumn seminar, there has been
unprecedented consensus around the
need for reform. The School Food Review
have also backed the move towards a fixed
and variable model in their recent paper.
If you ask me what the biggest issue
facing our industry in 2026 will be,
the answer is simple: Free School Meal
funding. Not just how much funding is
available, but how it’s structured - and
whether it’s finally fit for purpose.
Those of us working exclusively in
education catering have been grappling
with a broken funding model for more
than a decade. Universal Infant Free
School Meals were introduced with good
intentions, but the reality on the ground
has never matched the theory. A flat,
per-meal allocation assumes that all
schools operate in the same way. They
don’t. Catering is built on economies of
scale, and education catering perhaps
more than any other sector shows just
how stark those differences are.
Small and rural schools have higher costs
per meal, more limited staffing flexibility
and older kitchens that are expensive to
run. Larger schools can operate far more
efficiently. Yet both are funded at the same
rate. The result has been an unsustainable
distribution, making school meals more
affordable. If we’re lucky, we may see this
introduced in 2027 due to the time policy
takes to trial and implement.
Alongside funding, the other issue is the
delivery of the breakfast club. Statistics
from Wales reveal a woeful uptake that’s
not reaching those who need it most.
This is because the funding allocation has
to be spent / served by 8.30am, by which
time most pupils in food poverty have not
yet reached the school gates.
A fixed-plus-variable funding model, which
combines a guaranteed base subsidy for
every school with a per-meal allocation,
recognises the realities of catering
economics and, crucially, fairness. It gives
small schools a fighting chance, avoids
overfunding where it isn’t needed, and
provides schools with the ability to afford a
well-managed service.
To ensure inclusiveness and avoid it being
a childminding service for middle class
families the government must allow the
allocation to be usable up till 9:45am, not
8.30am. This ensures those pupil premium
students, who may well be late regularly
(and without any breakfast), do not miss
out on the service. These are the students
that need this service the most.
This matters even more when you
consider that the Free School Meal
eligibility threshold is set to expand to
include all households on Universal Credit
by September 2026. That’s absolutely the
right thing to do for children and families
- but expanding entitlement on top of a
flawed funding model risks compounding
the issue.
I have visited schools with high pupil
premium rates who are already providing
this service out of their own budget providing students with toast or bagels at
around 9.30am to ensure they’re not
learning on an empty stomach. They will
be hoping the DfE catch up with the
real-life requirements and adapt the
breakfast club rules to reach these
students.
Trials of the new fixed and variable funding
formula are to be carried out in January
and February 2026 to ensure the funding
schools receive is in line with the cost of
the catering service. Initial amounts to trial
are around £1.80 FSM, £1.35 UIFSM and
a £30k fixed sum for each school.
Surprisingly, this fits within the current
national funding level and allows for better
If 2026 is the year the industry finally fixes
Free School Meal funding whilst delivering
an accessible breakfast club programme, it
could also be the year education catering
truly moves forward - for caterers, schools
and, most importantly, the pupils we serve.
For further information please visit:
https://www.dolce.co.uk/
