School meals may cost councils an extra £7m

Tayside’s three councils could face having to plug an additional £7 million funding gap as a lack of school meals uptake is contributing to a budget black hole.

The authorities, already predicting significant budget cuts next year, are being warned they may be liable for covering the shortfall at Tayside Contracts.

The arm’s-length body runs services like school catering and roads maintenance on behalf of the councils in Dundee, Angus, and Perth and Kinross.

A report says Tayside Contracts is facing “significant” financial pressures brought on by factors including lower than planned school meal uptake, the national staff pay award and inflation.

Under a “worst-case” scenario, the three Tayside councils could be left having to make up the £7m between them.

Children and young people whose families are eligible for certain benefits, and all children in P1 to P5, can get school lunches free, though not all children eligible take up the offer.

That means that most P6-7 youngsters, and those in secondary schools, must pay for their meals.

According to a Tayside Contracts report from November, meal numbers have not returned to precovid levels. It says: “Budgeted meal numbers for 2022/23 were contingent upon pupils returning to pre-pandemic dining behaviours.”

In Angus, although showing signs of picking up, nearly 75,000 fewer meals are being bought than expected. In primary schools, uptake is 20% below budget, and it is 32% in secondaries.

In Dundee, primary school meal uptake is 20% below budget and 28% below in secondaries, though this has improved from previous months.

Meal uptake in Perth and Kinross primaries is 11% below what was expected and 5% in secondaries.

Tayside Contracts says it is taking action to improve uptake, but this is likely to have an impact in the longer term.

Among those measures is the development of a school meals Instagram page in a bid to engage with secondary pupils.

The organisation also says it is working with Dundee City Council and the NHS to support a new food and health teaching pack for schools.

A report to Perth and Kinross councillors this week said they may be liable for covering 34% of the potential £7m shortfall, about £2.4m.

SNP council leader Grant Laing told The Courier: “Tayside Contracts is not a private business and the figures are a part of a worst-case scenario.

“As we see, the cost of things is changing every day, like petrol. Because of this, we won’t know exactly how much the costs will be.

“Perth and Kinross Council are doing what we can to help to increase the number of school meals that are taken by pupils.”

Angus Conservative councillor Derek Wann says local authorities are already facing “tough choices” and fears further budget shortfalls will impact residents.

He said: “We have to provide public services without having the resources to pay for them.

“Angus and the other Tayside councils are going to have to pick up the tab here.”

Dundee Lib Dem councillor Craig Duncan, who sits on the Tayside Contracts joint committee, said: “I feel that Holyrood and Westminster need to understand and be supportive of local government.”

Tayside’s councils will meet to set their budgets for 2023/24 early in the new year.