Some pupils 'struggling just to get a hot meal'

Résumé détaillé

The price of a school dinner in a primary school will have risen from £2.60 to £3.40 since the start of 2026.

A headteacher said she believes "families are going to struggle" as the price of school dinners is to go up for the second time in a year.

The price of meals for pre-school, primary and special school pupils will go up by 30p, for post-primary pupils will they will rise by 15%. It follows an increase of just under 20% introduced by the Education Authority (EA) in January 2026.

Áine Leslie, principal of Malone Integrated College in Belfast, said this will put further pressure on families who are already worried about the cost of living crisis.

But the EA said that the amount parents would have to pay was still well below the average cost of producing a school meal, estimated at over £5.20.

The latest increase means that the price of a paid for school dinner in a primary school or special school, for instance, will have risen from £2.60 to £3.40 since the start of 2026.

The rise in school dinner prices is not the only measure introduced by the EA in response to what they describe as "an exceptionally challenging financial position".

There will also be a change to some menus in schools, replacing baked desserts with cheaper alternatives.

At Malone Integrated College about 55% of pupils have free school meal entitlement and there are also a lot of parents who are on lower incomes.

When the prices of school meals increased earlier this year, Leslie said she remembers "sitting with the head of the cafeteria and heartbreakingly decide how much to put up each item".

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