School meals prices frozen again

A PRICE freeze has been put on school meals in Bridgend county borough for the financial year 2021-22.

The local authority’s cabinet members agreed to a price freeze for the fourth year in a row. It means the cost of a primary school meals will remain at £2.20.

Bridgend county borough charges one of the lowest prices in Wales for school meals.

Bridgend council’s cabinet member for education and regeneration, councillor Charles Smith, said: “With the socioeconomic impact of the coronavirus pandemic affecting many families, we recognise the importance of maintaining this price freeze on school meals more than ever.

“A great deal of work goes into planning our school meal menus to ensure they can offer the correct balance of nutrients to fuel children and provide them with all of the energy they need for a busy school day.”

In 2019-20, the local authority subsidised each meal by 20p and this has increased to 40p in 202021. Over one million hot meals were provided to school children during 2019-20, including around 400,000 free school meals.