A SMALL increase in the price of school meals has been agreed by Hampshire County Council and will come into effect on April 11 – the first increase in six years.

To meet the rising costs of providing school meals, the 10p increase takes the cost per meal to £2.10.

The county council believes the price continues to represent good value for money for a two-course, freshly-cooked school meal.

Keith Mans, the county council’s lead member for children’s services, said: “A healthy lunch at school contributes significantly to a child’s well-being and their capacity to learn through to the end of the school day.

“We are very proud of the high standard of school meals that our catering service (HC3S) provides, using locally sourced produce.”

He continued: “I am keen that school meals remain affordable but we must balance this against the rising costs to provide those meals.

“In my view, the proposal to put the per meal price up by small increments will avoid sudden, dramatic price hikes and ensure the increases are manageable.”

More than 70,000 healthy school meals are served in Hampshire’s primary and secondary schools across the county. All HC3S school meals meet the Department for Education’s rules for healthy school dinners and the provider has worked with schools, pupils and parents for more than 20 years to create menus that are varied and follow the guiding principles of healthy eating.

Menus also adhere to the hyperactive children’s support group’s recommendations to remove more than 70 additives and colourings that could affect children’s behaviour.

In addition to the rising costs of ingredients, an increase to the living wage is anticipated in the financial year 2017-18 which will have a significant impact on staffing costs.

The decision to increase the school meal price was taken at ‘decision day’ on January 20.