Councils across Wales are extending the Welsh Government’s free school meal offer to include years one and two next term. Several councils have confirmed they are bringing more school years into the offer early.
When it was announced that free school meals will be offered to most reception-age children in maintained schools from September the Welsh Government said the scheme would be expanded to years one and two next April. Now Caerphilly, Ceredigion, Vale of Glamorgan, Conwy, Torfaen and Blaenau Gwent councils have announced children in years one and two in their schools will also be offered free school meals from September in response to the cost of living crisis.
Gwynedd Council will offer free school meals to reception and year one children from September 1 while Rhondda Cynon Taf Council will extend the offer beyond reception to year one children from January 2023 followed by all year two children from the start of the school summer term in April 2023.
Some other councils are also discussing bringing the offer forward for pupils in those year groups. Whether or not they can do so will depend on kitchens and equipment. Welsh Government will fund any councils expanding the offer to years one and two before April.
Confirming it was extending the offer early a spokesman for Ceredigion Council said: “From Monday, September 5, onwards all reception, year one, and year two children in Ceredigion schools will be offered free school meals, extending the offer beyond what needs to be done by September. In response to the current rising cost-of-living this is a positive step forward in ensuring that no child goes hungry while in school and tackling poverty in our county. Ceredigion County Council and Welsh Government are committed to implementing this scheme quickly and would ask for your patience as we build catering capacity to ensure a successful phased implementation and work towards a whole school roll-out over the next three years."
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Wyn Thomas, Ceredigion’s cabinet member responsible for schools, lifelong learning, and skills said the council had taken advantage of the flexibility of the scheme. Those councils that can extend the offer early will get Welsh Government funding to do so.
Blaenau Gwent Council has had an entire team working on the programme to offer more free meals for some time. A spokesman said: “I am pleased to confirm that Blaenau Gwent will be offering free school meals for all reception, year one, and year two children from September 2022. We have had a project team working on this to ensure we are prepared and have been busy recruiting and training additional catering staff, upgrading school kitchens and electrical power supplies where necessary, to meet additional capacity requirements."
The Vale of Glamorgan council said it would help fund the offer through profits from its local authority trading company, Big Fresh, which operates school meals in the county. A spokesman said: “Vale of Glamorgan school pupils in years one and two will receive free school meals seven months ahead of the Welsh Government schedule. The council has been able to accelerate the process meaning all three year groups will be offered free school meals from the start of the new school year. The provision will be delivered in partnership with The Big Fresh Catering Company and has been possible thanks to the success of that venture.”
Cllr Rhiannon Birch, the Vale’s cabinet member for education, said the scheme was being extended early in response to the cost-of living crisis affecting families. “We are delighted that provision for the latter two year groups will be available significantly earlier than in other parts of Wales [due] to the excellent performance of the Big Fresh Catering Company. Times are hard at the moment, with energy, fuel, and food prices all increasing and many facing food poverty. Hopefully this can go some way to easing the pressure being felt by families and help ensure that no child goes hungry while in school.”
The council established Big Fresh as a local authority trading company in 2020. It provides school meals for maintained schools and operates a commercial catering service and a bar and café at Penarth Pier Pavilion. Profits from these are being ploughed back in and will be used to fund free school meals for year one and two children early.
Conwy Council confirmed all children in reception, years one and two in its area will be offered free school meals from September. Caerphilly Council said it will offer free school meals to all reception and year one pupils from September followed by all year two children before the end of the October half-term break. A number of other councils are considering extending the offer to children in years one and two sooner than next year. A Flintshire council spokesman said:” Our position is that we will offer reception-aged children from September and extend to year one and two during the year as soon as capacity allows.”
Torfaen Council said in a statement: " We will roll out the free school meal offer to all children in reception, year one, and year two in September 2022 with funding available from Welsh Government. The offer being extended to further year groups in primary school is very much dependent on additional funding being allocated from Welsh Government to improve capacity and infrastructure within school kitchens."
Gwynedd Council will offer free school meals to reception and year one children from September 1 and said it "intended" to offer free school meals to year two children from January 1, 2023. Monmouthshire and Carmarthenshire councils said they are also considering extending the offer to years one and two early and discussions are taking place now.
Wales' largest education authority, Cardiff Council, is sticking to the April deadline. A spokesman said: "The majority of reception children will be offered free school meals from the new autumn term onwards and work is being carried out in many of the city’s primary schools so that kitchens are able to cater for a significantly greater number of pupils. In response to the current rising cost-of-living, we are committed to implementing the scheme as efficiently as possible. Our teams are working to build on catering capacity across the city, so that through a phased approach and with Welsh Government agreement, we can work towards rolling the scheme out to all primary aged children over the next three years. This is an important step in reaching the shared ambition of ensuring that no child goes hungry whilst in school.”
Powys and Denbighshire councils won't extend the offer early and said they would follow the Welsh Government timetable to add year ones and two next year. Bridgend is "on target" to start rolling out free school meals for all reception age pupils from September 2022. A spokesman for the council added: "We are also undertaking a substantial building programme that must be completed to ensure schools are properly equipped before we can extend the scheme for year one and year two pupils."
Anglesey Council said it was also still in discussions and could not confirm yet whether it will extend the offer beyond reception children early. A Denbighshire County Council spokesman said: “We are looking to introduce the scheme to reception in September and we’re in the process of planning the further roll-out, as per the Welsh Government’s roll out plan.”
WalesOnline asked all 22 local councils what their timetable was for offering free school meals to more pupils in years one and two. Not all councils have yet responded.
Responding to the news that some councils are adding years one and two into the offer next term the Welsh Government said: "We expect the majority of children in years one and two to start receiving free school meals from April 2023 but local authorities will be given the flexibility, support and funding to start delivering free school meals to those in years one and two earlier than April if they can."
Some local authorities can get up and running with the free school meal offer faster for reasons including the number of schools and how ready their canteens and services are to expand. The new free school meals policy was confirmed in March this year after an initial agreement was made as part of Plaid Cymru and Labour’s cooperation agreement in December 2021. On Monday the Welsh Government said that alongside Plaid it was “committed to implementing the scheme as quickly as possible in response to the rising cost of living crisis”. Local authorities will effectively take on the role of providing the meals funded by the Welsh Government. Some £225m has been committed to secure its delivery over the next three years. Of that fund £25m has gone to improving school kitchen facilities. The Welsh Government has said it is confident that most reception-aged children will be receiving free meals every day in school at the beginning of next term and by April 2023 the majority of children in years one and two will also start receiving free school meals.
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