Agenda item

At the Council meeting held on 30 November 2022, a Notice of Motion had been submitted, which requested that an assessment of the costs associated with an extension of Middlesbrough’s free school meal offer (to include 3 and 4 year olds) be considered by the Children and Young People’s Learning Scrutiny Panel.

The Head of Achievement was in attendance to provide an overview of the proposal and the associated costs.

Members heard that the Government recognised the benefits of providing a healthy school meal to the most disadvantaged pupils. It was highlighted that the Education Act 1996 required maintained schools and academies (including free schools) to provide free school meals to disadvantaged pupils who were aged between 5 and 16 years old.

Members heard that in 2011 the pupil premium had been introduced to provide additional funding for local authority maintained schools in England, to increase the attainment of disadvantaged pupils and close the gap between them and their peers. Children eligible for free school meals also received pupil premium for their school. The funding was paid directly to the school as they were best placed to determine what additional provision was required.

The scrutiny panel was advised that from September 2014, Universal Infant Free School Meals (UIFSM) had been introduced for pupils in reception, year 1, and year 2.

In respect of the Notice of Motion, three lines of enquiry had been explored and those were outlined to the scrutiny panel:

1.      It was advised that extending free school meal provision to ALL 3 and 4 year olds would have cost the Council £1, 748,000.  The daily cost of school meals (£2.30) had been multiplied by the number of academic days (190) to give the price per head of £437 annually for 4,000 children (2,000 3 year olds and 2,000 4 year olds).

2.      Members heard that extending free school meal provision to 3 and 4 year old attending maintained settings for both 15 and 30 hours of nursery provision, would have cost the Council £201,894. The number of pupils in the cohort was 462, however, the majority of those children only attended nursery provision for 15 hours.

3.      It was advised that extending free school meal provision for those 3 and 4 year old attending maintained settings for 30 hours (49 children), would have cost the Council £21,413.

It was commented that the plans would have needed to be extended to include children in all types of provision, otherwise it would have left the Council open to being challenged for discrimination. It was advised that, to only provide free school meal provision to those attending maintained settings would have excluded a large proportion of Middlesbrough’s children as those attending Private, Voluntary and Independent (PVI), childminder and academy sector provision would not qualify or benefit.

The Head of Achievement advised that, given that proposal to extend free school meals to nursery-age children was highly expensive, it was not affordable at present.

A Member queried whether the costs outlined were purely for the meals or whether the logistics of serving those extra meals had also been considered. In response, the Head of Achievement confirmed that only the cost of the meals had been calculated.

A discussion ensued. The scrutiny panel recognised the key benefits of providing a healthy school meal, especially given the cost of living rise and the increased use of foodbanks. However, Members highlighted concerns that extending free school meal provision to only the 3 and 4 year old cohort attending maintained settings would have been considered discriminatory against those children attending Private, Voluntary and Independent (PVI) nurseries, childminders or academy sector provision. Subsequently, the scrutiny panel considered that the only option available would have been to extend free school meal provision to ALL 3 and 4 year olds and that would have resulted in the Council incurring significant costs (£1,748,000 in the first year). Therefore, given the Council’s current financial position, the scrutiny panel supported the officer’s recommendation - That the extension of free school meal provision, to include 3 and 4 year olds, would have been highly expensive and was not affordable at present.

The Democratic Services Officer advised that the appropriate elected members would be notified of the scrutiny panel’s comments.

AGREED

That the extension of free school meal provision, to include 3 and 4 year olds, would have been highly expensive and was not affordable at present.