Northern Ireland school meal prices rise amid budget pressure
The changes come as the Education Authority continues to manage significant budget pressures, including a reported £300m funding shortfall
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School meal prices have risen across Northern Ireland, with primary and special school pupils facing a 50p increase and post-primary students seeing sharp rises in canteen food costs.
The cost of a school dinner for primary and special school pupils has increased from £2.60 to £3.10. Post-primary pupils are facing rises of about 19% on food purchased from school canteens, while prices for pre-school meals have also gone up.
The changes come as the Education Authority continues to manage significant budget pressures, including a reported £300m funding shortfall.
According to Dr Graham Gault, national secretary at the National Association of Head Teachers Northern Ireland (NAHT NI), many school leaders are concerned about the effect on families who do not qualify for free school meals but are already struggling with rising living costs.
He said the increases would “have a real impact, especially upon families on low incomes who do not qualify for free school meals”.
Gault said: “For some pupils, a school dinner is the only ‘proper’ meal they access each day, and we hear anecdotally of families cutting back on cooking hot meals due to pressure on household finances following a period in which food prices have risen considerably.
The national secretary added that school leaders had heard reports of families cutting back on cooking hot meals because of pressure on household finances, following a period of steep food price inflation.
Gault also warned that higher prices could affect pupils’ wellbeing and learning, saying teachers feared some children might feel guilty about taking school meals or skip them altogether, “compromising their nutritional intake and affecting their focus in class”.
He said the price rises reflected “a failure of political leadership and government underfunding of education”, with costs being passed on to children and families.
Gault added: “Politicians should work together to prevent these rises, not expect already hard-pressed families to plug the gap.”
