Update on school meal prices

The Denbighshire School Catering Service has faced an increase of prices for all major commercially procured food products, the domestic food market and across all food market supply chains.

The Service has seen an average price increase of 8% across food suppliers but is working with suppliers to mitigate increases. In the face of rising prices, it was agreed to increase the cost of school meals by 20p. This is the first rise we have introduced in three years. The increase will also help us deliver contributions to savings agreed for the set council budget for this financial year. Even after this increase, prices will still be relatively low compared to other local authority areas, and the service is confident that it is providing value for money in terms of the quality of food given to pupils across our schools.

The School Catering Service has also just been recognised as one of the top six best performing services in the UK for 2019/2020. This recognition, from The Association for Public Service Excellence (APSE) is based upon comparisons with other school meals services from across the UK. It takes into account things such as food purchasing initiatives, school meal uptake, management costs, staff training/absence levels, communication to customers and more.

The price rise will be implemented on September 1.