Children will have to pay up to 17 per cent more for their school dinners this year compared to last year, a survey has found.
Consumer watchdog
Which? also said the quality of school meals needs to improve to encourage more children to eat them and keep costs down after finding that the price is rising in two-thirds of schools across the country in the coming term.
This is leading to concern that it could start to undo the progress made in recent years towards improving children's access to healthier meals.
The research found that parents would rather give their children packed lunches as they believe them to be cheaper, and because their children do not like the food on offer at schools.
Meal prices have risen on average by around 2.5 per cent on last year but some local authorities have increased prices by far more.
School dinners managed by Poole Borough Council are the most expensive in the country at an average of £2.50 this September.
Doncaster Metropolitan Borough Council has increased prices by 17 per cent to between £1.70 and £2 a meal while Lewisham Borough Council has risen by 14 per cent, so that school dinners will cost from £1.40 to £1.60.
The local authority with the biggest increase was Bolton Metropolitan Borough Council at 25 per cent, although its prices still remain the lowest in the country at £1.25.
It is estimated that in order to keep costs down, 55 per cent of students would need to take school meals. However, the research found that just 45 per cent of school pupils in England currently have them.
Comment: The very last sentence of this article certainly sheds light on what may have really happened.