Over 60% of councils that cater for schools have cited final pressures as the key driver for undertaking a catering service review, a survey has found.

According to the Association for Public Service Excellence’s (APSE) new report, titled ‘The future of local authority education catering services’, the reasons for carrying out service reviews that were recurrently stated by councils included rising costs of food and staff, budget pressures, insufficient Government funding, and competition from private contractors.

The survey of local authorities across England, Scotland, and Wales revealed that 55.6% of respondents were motivated to carry out a service review due to the cost of delivering the service.

A further 85% of respondents reported that Government funding does not cover the actual cost of school meals, while 90% said that surges in staff wages and National Insurance changes serve as obstacles.

Local authority caterers also reported that accommodating special diets has increasingly posed a challenge, with 60% of councils confirming that the number and complexity of special diets have grown in the past two years.

‘It is clear that local authority caterers from across the UK are facing severe financial pressures, with the situation in England being particularly precarious and leading to councils making the difficult decision to cease providing school meals services or outsourcing to a private contractor’, the report reads.

APSE has highlighted the risks of ceasing to provide services, such as fragmented service quality, poorer health outcomes, widened inequalities (especially for vulnerable children), and decreased access to provision for rural or smaller schools.

The report cites eight English local authorities that have decided to end school meal services recently, with APSE expressing concern about the ‘sustainability of local authority catering services under current arrangements’.

As part of its recommendations, the association calls for funding reform, improved national standards, and more recognition of the value of school meals.

It has also urged councils to assist the All-Party-Parliamentary-Group on School Food’s upcoming inquiry into school food, as well as calling for increased collaboration between the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government and the Department for Education around funding.