Parents being charged up to £2 a DAY for kids to eat their own packed lunches by cash-strapped schools
A growing number of cash-strapped schools have adopted the so-called sandwich tax to pay for cleaning and supervising
HARD-UP parents are being charged up to £2 a day to bring packed lunches in to school.
A growing number of cash-strapped schools have adopted the so-called sandwich tax to pay for cleaning and supervising of dining halls.
Headteachers said it was a sign of the “hard financial times” schools face.
But yesterday the Department for Education slammed the practice as “unacceptable” and urged families to complain.
The NASUWT union quizzed 2,211 parents and 26 said they had to pay for their children to take packed lunches. That was up from 14 last year.
Speaking ahead of the union’s annual conference in Manchester this weekend, Dr Patrick Roach, deputy general secretary of the NASUWT, said: “For many parents who are, in the words of the Prime Minister, just about managing, their children may not qualify for a free school lunch.
“Parents are saying ‘I can’t afford the price of a school lunch, I’ll send my child in with sandwiches’, only to find they’re paying between £1 and £2 a day just for right of the child to sit in the cafeteria.
“Quite honestly, that defies common sense and reasonableness from our point of view.”
A Department for Education spokesman said yesterday: “It is unacceptable for schools to charge pupils to eat their own packed lunches in canteens. Parents should raise any concerns about this directly with the school.”
Almost a fifth of parents have also been asked to make a regular financial donation to their child’s school, another survey suggests.
In some cases, mums and dads have been asked to contribute more than £100 a year.
The findings, in a poll conducted by the NASUWT teaching union, also shows that many families are handing over money to pay for visits such as trips to museums or the theatre.
In total, 18% said that they had been asked to complete a standing order or direct debit for a regular donation.
The government has previously said that schools must make it clear to parents that they are not obliged to make contributions.
Overall, around 96% of those polled said that they had paid for a visit related to a particular topic or subject their child was studying, while 23% had paid for an activity required as part of an exam course or qualification.