SQUARED MEALS? How each county deals with the burning issue of school dinner debts
THE hot topic of school dinners has featured regularly in the headlines – from the story of a mum threatened with social services over a £13 unpaid bill, to that of a primary that told parents their children couldn’t have a Christmas meal if they were in arrears.
School meal debts are soaring across North Wales, with Gwynedd’s becoming the biggest in Wales as the county is owed £136,821.21.
The debt for one of the county’s schools alone topped £18,000.
Parents feel schools should offer more flexibility to prevent embarrassment or shame.
In September, our sister paper the Daily Post reported how a single mum was threatened with being reported to social services because she was late paying her child’s £13 dinner money.
A letter sent to the mother by Denbighshire Council’s school meal service said failing to either settle the bill or provide a packed lunch instead would be seen as “a child protection concern”.
And last month, Denbighshire had to apologise for a second time after a school “mistakenly” sent out letters telling parents their children wouldn’t get a Christmas meal if their dinner money was in arrears – even if they had the £2.20 to pay for it.
Councils have different policies on how long a child will be allowed to accrue debts before lunch is withheld, what alternative is offered and how debts are recovered. In many cases, action is up to individual schools, with debts larger than a certain size transferred to their local authority to recover.
Rowan Davies, head of policy and campaigns at Mumsnet, told the BBC: “I think flexibility around cash payments (would be helpful).
“There might be times of the month where parents are able to pay for school dinners, there might be times where they need to switch to packed lunches.
“Something a lot of parents find difficult is going to the school secretary. You don’t necessarily want to go and tell that person you’re struggling with money.” School meals in Den- bighshire cost £2.20 per day. Forty-three of the county’s schools offer the ParentPay system which eliminates the need for children to bring cash into school.
Outstanding school meal debt to the council is £27,000.
Council policy regarding overdue payments is that lunch is withheld if parents accrue a debt of £11.
When a parent refuses to pay or persistently sends their child in without food or money, the education authority (LEA) is informed.
If a child is refused a hot meal due to a dinner debt, they receive a cheese sandwich and a drink.
Dinners in Wrexham cost £2.35 for nursery and infants, and £2.40 for juniors and high school.
The outstanding school meal debt to council is £14,422.32 as of October 26, 2018.
A spokeswoman said: “If parents continually send their child to school without a packed lunch, when they have been made aware repeatedly that we are unable to serve them with a meal until the debt is cleared, this causes concerns over wellbeing and safeguarding of pupils, and the headteacher would be responsible for alerting the appropriate services.”
As of November, Wrexham parents have to pay in advance for their child’s school meals but they will still be fed in the event of a “one-off emergency” such as spilling a drink over their packed lunch, or a parent genuinely forgetting to pay for one day.
In such cases, a reminder is sent home asking for payment to be made the following day.
Bailiffs are employed to act on behalf of the authority if notices are ignored.
Some heads will pay for a meal from school funds but these are in the minority.
Some schools keep emergency supplies in order to provide a basic lunch, and at other schools the cook will provide a sandwich and piece of fruit.
Meals in Gwynedd primary schools cost £2.50, whereas high schools operate a cafeteria system and special schools charge £2.40.
All primary schools have an online payment system.
The outstanding debt during the last five financial years up to March 31 is £136,821.21.
The responsibility for identifying a debt on an individual pupil account rests with the school.
Currently, the school is expected to send a letter to parents who have not paid for school meals for a fortnight.
If not paid, the school is expected to transfer the debt to the authority.
An invoice is raised against the parent which is payable within 28 days, and the debt on the school books is cleared.
Owen Owens, from Gwynedd Council’s education resources service said: “Over the past year, a new easy-to-use system has been introduced in all the county’s primary schools which means it is possible for families to pay 24 hours a day.
“This new convenient process means that parents no longer have to find the exact money to place in an envelope to pay for school dinners every week.
“This system also allows parents to monitor their payments and to keep track of any payments they need to make.
“As this system is adopted more widely, it will also lift the administrative expectations on schools and enable the authority to be aware immediately if debts for school dinners accrue.
“...work is already being carried out to tighten arrangements in terms of school dinner debts.
“As an authority, we urge schools to make us aware as soon as possible so that we can try to deal with a problem and when possible offer help to families to repay before significant debts are accrued.”
On Anglesey, school meals cost £2.20 - £2.40.
All but three primaries offer ParentPay.
Owed money – amounting to £4,928 in 2018/2019 – is sent to the treasurers for recovery.
Debts can reach £24 before lunch is withheld.
In Conwy, infant and primary meals cost £2.30 and for secondary pupils, they are £2.45.
Fifty-two primary schools have ParentPay.
The council’s school meals debt was £39,635.27 as of November 5.
The authority uses Jacobs outside debt collection agency after internal debt recovery process is exhausted.
Each school deals with this situation within its own policies. The child is never refused a meal.
A spokeswoman said: “The system that works best is a ‘zero tolerance’ approach. This may initially appear very hard where there has previously been a culture of debt tolerance. However, schools can only offer free meals to pupils where there is a free school meal entitlement.
“Continued failure of a pupil’s parent / carer to provide a paid or packed lunch, in line with school responsibilities may require escalation to social care/ team around the family for further investigation.
“It is important that schools manage school meal debt effectively, as the consequence to a school should a debt ultimately be written off is deduction from the school’s budget.”
In Flintshire, school meals cost £2.20 for primary schools.
Schools are responsible for the collection of their own school meal payments and debts. Flintshire said it does not hold information about the overall school dinner debt to the county.