My Purchasing Partner’s Response to Proposed UK School Food Standards

My Purchasing Partner welcomes the government’s intention to update and strengthen school food standards across the UK. As an organisation working at the heart of state school catering, we see every day how access to nutritious, appealing meals supports children’s health, concentration, behaviour, and long-term life chances.

The role of school meals in children’s overall diet

Children eat the majority of their meals outside school hours, but the school day still accounts for a substantial – and highly influential – share of their weekly food intake.

On a typical week:

• Most pupils attend school for 5 days out of 7, eating 1 main meal per day at school where they take a school lunch.
• A school age child will usually eat around 21 main meals per week (3 per day).
• Where a child takes a school lunch every day, school meals account for about one in five main meals – roughly 19–24% of their total weekly meals, depending on whether they also have breakfast or snacks at school.
• For pupils who are regular users of breakfast clubs and / or after school provision, the proportion of calories and nutrients consumed on the school site can be significantly higher.

National data underlines the scale of school food provision:

• In England alone, there are over 9 million pupils in state funded schools.
• Even allowing for pupils who bring a packed lunch, this still translates into hundreds of millions of school meals served each year across the UK.
• For children eligible for free school meals, a school lunch is often the most reliable hot, nutritionally balanced meal of the day.

The 80:20 balance – why habits outside school matter most

This evidence shows that school food typically shapes around 20% of a child’s main meals, while the remaining 80% are eaten at home or in the wider community. We support the principle of an “80:20 rule”:

• The school food environment (the 20%) must set a clear, positive benchmark – consistently nutritious, safe, and appealing, demonstrating what a balanced meal looks and tastes like.
• The habits formed outside school (the 80%) are ultimately more important in determining overall health outcomes. What children routinely eat at home, at weekends, during holidays and on the way to and from school will have the greatest cumulative impact on diet related health.

For this reason, we believe that:

• Strengthening school food standards is essential, but it must be aligned with wider efforts to support healthier eating at home – including education, clear public health messaging, and tackling affordability and access to nutritious food.
• Schools and caterers should be seen as partners with families, not substitutes for them. The most powerful gains in children’s health will come when high quality school food is reinforced by consistent, supportive habits in the 80% of meals eaten beyond the school gate.
• Policy must therefore avoid placing all responsibility for child nutrition on schools, and instead recognise the shared roles of parents, carers, communities, retailers and the food industry.

 

Our position on the proposed new standards

We are broadly supportive of the direction of travel signalled in the proposed new standards, particularly where they:

• Promote increased consumption of fruit, vegetables, and wholegrains.
• Reduce excessive sugar, salt, and ultra processed foods.
• Encourage the use of sustainably sourced ingredients and reduced food waste.
• Recognise the importance of culturally appropriate and inclusive menus.

However, for these reforms to succeed and deliver meaningful benefits for pupils, several key conditions must be met:

1. Adequate funding and resourcing

Improved standards inevitably involve higher food and labour costs. Many school catering services are already operating on extremely tight budgets and facing inflationary pressures across food, energy, and staffing. Any new statutory requirements must therefore be backed by realistic, long-term funding that enables schools and local authorities to implement them without compromising meal uptake or overall provision.

2. Realistic timelines and phased implementation

Catering teams need sufficient lead in time to redesign menus, adjust supply chains, train staff, and, where necessary, update kitchen equipment. We strongly recommend a phased introduction, with clear milestones and guidance, to avoid disruption and ensure consistent implementation across all settings.

3. Clear, practical guidance

The standards must be straightforward to interpret and apply in real world school kitchens. This includes:

1. Clear definitions (e.g. of “ultra processed” foods).
2. Practical menu planning examples and portion guidance.
3. Flexibility to account for different age groups, regional supply chains, and kitchen capacities.
4. Alignment with wider policies on free school meals, holiday provision, and healthy eating education.

 

4. Support for workforce development

Any shift towards fresher, less processed, and more varied menus will depend on a skilled, stable catering workforce. Investment in training, career development, and fair pay is essential if we are to recruit and retain the staff needed to deliver higher standards consistently and safely.

 

5. Maintaining and increasing meal uptake

The success of any school food policy ultimately depends on children choosing to eat the meals provided. We urge policymakers to:

1. Involve pupils and parents in menu development.
2. Support measures to reduce stigma around free school meals.
3. Ensure that healthier menus remain attractive, affordable, and culturally relevant.
4. Carefully monitor the impact of changes on meal uptake, particularly among lower income families.

 

6. Consistency, monitoring, and collaboration

We support a robust yet supportive system of monitoring and evaluation, with a focus on sharing best practice rather than punitive measures. Close collaboration between government, local authorities, schools, caterers, suppliers, health professionals, and families will be essential to make the standards workable and impactful.

 

Conclusion

In summary, My Purchasing Partner supports the ambition to raise school food standards as part of a wider strategy to tackle child health inequalities and improve educational outcomes. The evidence shows that while school food shapes roughly 20% of children’s main meals and sets a crucial standard, the 80% of eating that happens outside school ultimately determines whether we achieve sustained health benefits.

We therefore call for school food reform to be accompanied by coherent, well-resourced action to support healthier food environments and habits at home and in communities.

We stand ready to work with government and sector partners to shape final regulations and implementation plans that are evidence based, deliverable in practice, and properly resourced. With clear standards, appropriate funding, and genuine partnership across that full 80:20 landscape, these reforms can help ensure that every child in a state school has access to nutritious, high-quality meals every day.

For further information, please contact: admin@mypurchasingpartner.co.uk