Parents angry after school threatens to withhold hot school dinners over unpaid debts
Parents are angry following a letter that was sent by a primary school threatened to deny their children hot meals unless dinner money debts are paid.
Devonshire Park Primary in Merseyside said it was owed more than £1,000 in outstanding payments for school dinners.
The letter, sent to parents on Monday and seen by the Independent, explains that children would be given “toast or a bread roll” if debts were not paid and parents hadn’t provided a pack lunch.
The letter reads: “If your child has a negative balance on their dinner money account they will not be provided with a hot meal.
“If they do not have a packed lunch with them, they will be given toast or a bread roll in the Den.”
The school said its policy was consistent with other schools and it would never let a child go hungry.
“Equally, it would be irresponsible to allow parents to build up further debt,” a spokesperson for Devonshire Park Primary told the Independent.
One parent, who asked to remain anonymous, told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: “My friend works as a single mum but struggles financially.
“I’m guessing there will be plenty of parents in the same situation who have received the letter.”
The primary school is located in Birkenhead, Wirral and teaches pupils aged 4-11.
According to the school, the policy would only be enforced when parents had a negative balance of more than £10.
It also said that parents would be first asked to provide a packed lunch for their child.
A hot meal will be provided to children if they forget their lunch, don’t have money, or if their negative balance is under £10. Parents are asked to pay afterwards.
The Devonshire Park Primary spokesperson said the school fully understands the financial difficulties that some parents face.
They added the school writes to any parent with a debt of £10 or more every Friday to remind them and request payment.
“If the debt continued to grow we would ask parents to provide a packed lunch for the child and pay the balance off over a period of time that suits them,” they said.
The school said it has only once had to enforce the policy when a child, whose parents had a debt greater than £10 and failed to provide their child with a packed lunch.
The child was subsequently given cheese spread sandwiches by the school with the parents’ permission.
