Councils are being forced to divert millions from school maintenance budgets to pay for the government’s free school meals promise, the Local Government Association (LGA) is warning.
Council leaders say that despite assurances the programme would be fully funded, new research shows that funding to improve school kitchens has fallen short in almost half of all local authority areas in England.
The LGA estimates that councils without enough funding will need to find an average of £488,000 each to provide free school meals, which will need to come from money intended for school repairs and maintenance.
Cllr David Simmonds, chairman of the LGA’s Children and Young People Board, said: ‘There’s no doubt that dishing up a nutritious lunch for every young pupil will improve the experience of school and help them concentrate in lessons.
‘Councils and schools have been working really hard to make this happen within this ambitious timescale. But it cannot be right that for some councils, money set aside for maintenance has instead had to be spent plugging the shortfall in money which government should have provided for meals.
‘This research makes it clear central government has not provided schools with enough money to do the essential work necessary to give 1.5 million children a free meal at lunchtime. It is councils and schools who are picking up the bill for this work, at a time when budgets are already squeezed and tough decisions are being taken.’
The survey found that 47% of council said they had not received enough money to cover the full cost of providing free school meals, with 37% saying the shortfall would need to come from school funds.
Unison said that councils should not be forced to choose between providing free schools or repairing old buildings.
Unison national officer, Christine Lewis, said: ‘It is no use the Government announcing policies, if schools are then forced to raid their maintenance budget in order to provide free meals. These are twin policies that should be fully funded. It's not either or.’
