The Educator Magazine U.K. May-August issue - Magazine - Page 26
Why the school
meal funding
system needs
overhauling
Adam Curtis, Co-Owner at Dolce Schools
Catering, has been meeting with other
industry bodies to put pressure on the
Government and DfE to re-look at how the
Free School Meal funding (both UIFSM and
FSM) is calculated and applied.
Adam says: “School meals are woefully
underfunded; the recent 5p increase to
UIFSM and FSM isn’t where it needs to be.
However, the root cause of the problem
doesn’t lie in underfunding by the
Government; it lies in a completely
dysfunctional way of applying the pot
of funding.”
Currently every school, no matter what the
size, is allocated the same amount per meal.
This model is not appropriate because
catering is based on economies of scale.
Larger schools, which have more pupils, can
achieve school meals at a far lower price per
meal than smaller schools can.
For example, a small, rural primary school
with 100 pupils on roll can face costs of
£5.50 a meal whereas a larger primary
school, with 800 pupils on roll, could get their
meal price as low as £2.10 a meal. With the
UIFSM funding sitting at £2.61 per meal, too
much money is spent at some larger
schools, whereas not enough is spent at
some smaller schools.
Adam explains: “FSM and UIFSM requires a
fixed sum and a variable meal price. When
applied via a £30k fixed sum subsidy per
school, with a £1.35 variable meal price
subsidy, there is enough funding going to
small and large schools to cover the cost of
the service without any additional cost.
“When modelled against current FSM/UIFSM
rates in England it actually works out
£1.7million cheaper, making the case for
Universal Free School Meals more possible
than ever”
The current model means smaller schools
have had to foot large fees out of their
budget to support the service, whilst many
Local Authority caterers have had to cease
their services.
There is a real chance to make a significant
and meaningful impact on young people’s
lives in England by simply adjusting how the
current funding pot is applied.
If you feel you would like to
support in any way please
contact: adam@dolce.co.uk
