THOUSANDS of children in more than 40 schools across the town will be left with school dinners done ‘on the cheap’ if Barnsley Council’s proposals to axe its school meals service go ahead, a trade union has claimed.
Senior officers at the council are said to be considering a report which recommends that its existing service is scrapped - because it does not expect to make a profit.
The council insists the matter is still under discussion, but councillors could vote on whether to go ahead with the proposal at a ruling cabinet meeting in May, which would formalise the notion and give primary schools just six months to find other ways to feed about 8,000 children.
UNISON has warned the council its plan could cause job losses and pay cuts for 220 cooks and catering staff, while thousands of parents will worry about their children not getting decent hot meals at school.
The 48 schools the council currently caters for makes it the largest provider in Barnsley, but the authority is concerned it will not make a profit because five schools are planning on buying meals from the private sector, the union says.
Robin Symonds, from UNISON, said: “Cooking school meals should not be about making a profit, it should be about giving children in Barnsley the best start in life, and the plan has all the ingredients to be a disaster. This is a public service, not a business.
“Sadly Barnsley Council seems to have lost sight of that and if councillors scrap the school meals service it will be a dereliction of duty.
“They will be turning their backs on thousands of children with more than 40 schools scrambling around to find a replacement service with very little notice.”
Instead of cutting the service, UNISON has urged the council to invest in staffing to increase capacity of the service and boost the management structure to make it competitive with professional catering companies.
“We know from experience that if schools are forced to turn to the private sector then it will be school meals served on the cheap as every last penny of profit is squeezed out of the service by buying the cheapest ingredients and cooking the cheapest dinners.
“It will be our members who suffer too as wages and pension contributions could be cut and jobs may be lost. We believe that more than £200,000 could be taken out of the local economy through pay cuts and local providers not being used to buy ingredients.”
A Barnsley Council spokesman told the Chronicle it’s still in discussions but said youngsters will not be left without meals.
They added: “We’re currently in confidential discussions with the trade unions as part of an agreed process we use to look at different ways of delivering our services. At this point in time, a number of options are being discussed and we’re gathering feedback.
“Schools will not be losing their school meal provision. We want to be clear that there’s still discussion and debate to happen around who provides this provision in the future and no decisions have been taken.
“It’s worrying that UNISON has decided to break this confidentiality and cause undue stress to our staff and their members. This is something we’re looking into.”
