Conservatives punish parents with 15% school meal price rise

This week the Conservative administration has made a decision to increase school meal prices for schools that use the Council’s buyback service by over 15%. This comes as many parents continue to struggle with the cost of living crisis.

Reacting to the decision, Liberal Democrat Group Leader Councillor Henry Vann said “"This is a punishing increase of over 15% for pupils at those schools that use this council buyback service. We know the government has let food inflation get out of control, but the Council should do better than pass this onto schools and parents. They are sitting on a reserve that could do much more to reduce the pain without any impact on other council taxpayers. Instead they are making it very difficult for parents to fund this extra cost and are expecting schools to use pupil premium money to cover their increased costs – important funds that are for the education of the most disadvantaged pupils."