Schools, nurseries and families who purchase school meals through Hampshire County Council will pay less from next year, following the appointment of a new catering provider.

From January 2026, the County Council will provide school meals through a new supplier – Chartwells – under a managed contract. This means that the County Council will keep overall responsibility and oversight of the service but the day-to-day running (such as preparing and serving meals) will be carried out by Chartwells. As part of the change, schools and nurseries subscribed to the service, as well as families who pay for the meals provided at those settings, will see the County Council’s current price of £3.20 drop to £2.75.

Chartwells is the UK’s leading provider of catering to schools, academies, colleges and universities and serves millions of meals to students across the nation. Its meals are produced in line with a rigorous quality assurance process, using sustainably sourced fish certified by the Marine Stewardship Council, as well as 100 per cent British beef, milk, sausages and eggs certified by the British Red Tractor Assurance scheme. It has clear processes in place to manage allergies so that all children can enjoy school meals in a safe and inclusive way.

The company also shares the local authority’s focus on sustainability and reducing food waste, and empowers children with information about health and nutrition, sustainability, and wellbeing through its ‘Beyond The Chartwells Kitchen Education’ programme as well as its ‘Nudge Nudge’ campaign, designed to encourage the uptake of healthier meal choices.

Councillor Steve Forster, the County Council’s Cabinet Member for Education, said: “I am pleased that thanks to our new partnership with Chartwells, we are now able to offer a more affordable meal price of £2.75 while continuing to drive positive change in our schools around food education and sustainability. Chartwells is a long-standing and well-established school meals provider, and we look forward to working with them from January.

“More generally, I continue to urge families where possible to make use of free school meals, which are automatically available to all children in Reception through to year 2, and from year 3 and above, for families who receive certain benefits. You can visit our website to find out more and check your eligibility for means-tested free school meals.”

Lisa Priestley, Managing Director, Chartwells Schools, said: “We are delighted to be working with Hampshire County Council to deliver value to its schools, parents and pupils. This is a true partnership, which will see us work collaboratively to deliver positive outcomes for schools and the communities in which they operate.

“We are committed to delivering quality, safe, inclusive meals for pupils, utilising the power of our scale, processes and procedures to drive efficiencies. This is all underpinned by our belief in harnessing the power of food education to inform pupils with knowledge that will lead to healthier lives and positive outcomes. We very much look forward to working with Hampshire County Council on a smooth integration to achieve this shared goal.”

Chartwells’ appointment follows the County Council’s decision last year to source the school meals it provides from an alternative supplier rather than producing meals in-house as it currently does via its Education Catering service. The decision came after rising food and staff costs in the school food industry nationally had forced the County Council to increase the price of its school meals, placing pressure on schools and families. This led many schools to move to more affordable private providers, which have lower operating costs and are therefore generally able to charge less. With the County Council continuing to face significant and well documented budget pressures, this loss of school business together with the rising costs of providing school meals meant that an in-house service was ultimately no longer financially viable.

The change means better value for taxpayers, no extra financial risk for the County
Council and continued support for schools and nurseries from the local authority.

Following the announcement, the County Council will work with its subscribed schools and nurseries to ensure they are ready to transition to Chartwells in January.