Hampshire County Council confirms it is scrapping Education Catering – formerly known as HC3S – which provides meals to schools

CATERING services in schools across the New Forest that were provided by the county council have been scrapped.

As reported in the A&T, earlier this year Hampshire County Council launched a consultation on its plan to drop its Education Catering service by March 2026, citing “significant financial pressure” in recent years due to the combined impacts of rising food and staffing costs.

It put forward two potential options; for schools and nurseries to arrange their own provision from the private sector, or for HCC to provide a “managed outsource of the service”.

Cllr Steve Forster, the council’s cabinet member for education, confirmed the decision had been made to no longer produce meals in-house and move to sourcing school meals from other providers.

This arrangement will see the county council purchase and manage the supply of meals from alternative providers on behalf of the schools and nurseries who subscribe to this service.

Results of the five-week consultation revealed 73% of the 180 respondents said they would potentially be interested in joining a managed outsource.

Cllr Forster said: “We are exceptionally proud of all that our education catering service has achieved, and I want to thank all staff for their ongoing dedication to the service and for their support throughout what continues to be a very challenging period, with rising food and staff costs impacting the school food industry both locally and nationally.

“In light of these pressures and to cover our costs, we have needed to increase the price of our school meals over time and, as such, this now exceeds the amount that schools receive from government to purchase individual meals.”

He added: “With government funding continuing to fall short, our necessary price increases have placed an added and regrettable burden on our schools’ budgets, with many choosing to move to other more affordable suppliers.

“Outsourcing our school meals service to private providers, who have lower operating costs and are generally able to charge less, therefore presents a more attractive option for schools and paying families, while freeing us from the financial risk now associated with providing an in-house service.”

Education Catering, formerly known as HC3S, currently provides meals to 364 schools and 33 early years settings in Hampshire.

Since April 2022, 139 schools have left or given notice to leave the scheme. While local authorities are responsible for ensuring free school meals are provided to eligible children, they are not legally required to run their own catering services to fulfil this.

Hampshire County Council says the majority of staff currently working in the Education Catering service will transfer to new catering suppliers contracted under the managed outsource arrangement, in line with national employment legislation.

Consultation regarding these arrangements will be undertaken with staff and trade unions in autumn next year.