The report found that on average primary schools in England had around £1,000 of dinner money debt at the end of the 2023/24 academic year. While not all schools reported debt, in schools that did, debt ranged from £3 to as much as £22,000.
Overall, debt has risen by around 50% over the past two academic years (2021/22 compared to 2023/24), but there is great variation at school level. Some schools (12%) saw a decrease in debt while others (39%) saw it increase by up to 100%.
A spokesperson for CPAG concluded: “Our research suggests that many families of primary-aged children are currently struggling to pay for school food. This is resulting in increased school meal debt in the system that schools have to regularly monitor and manage.
“Schools are responding to this in a variety of ways from absorbing debt to capping it, calling up parents who are indebted or moving children to packed lunches or ‘alternative’ meals. Sometimes they are using a combination of these approaches, and all of this consumes staff time.
“These approaches are also affecting relationships with parents and sometimes children are paying the price at lunchtime. Managing a means-tested school food system is complex and takes great coordination from schools – taking up time that could be spent elsewhere.”
CPAG is calling on the Government to ‘urgently review’ the free school meals threshold so that all children in low-income households can access a hot and filling meal at lunchtime.
They are also calling for the removal of means-testing from lunchtime altogether, relieving the strain on schools who are managing this system, and ensuring that all children and families can access the benefits of school food.