UIFSM Getting Started – For Caterers
5 Mar 2013
This support document was kindly produced by Caterlink, based on their experience catering for universal free school meals (UFSM) in Islington primary schools.
1 Analysis of Current Take Up and Service Provision
- Consider number and diversity of school meals providers to assess ease/complexity of implementation
- Establish baseline and profile of current take up
- Estimate likely increase in take up
- Clarify numbers eligible for FSM
- Assess likely increase in take up:
- We used an assumption of 85% take – up as benchmark for implementation plan
- This assumption took absence into account (i.e. 5% allowance for pupil absence)
- The take-up assumption is critical to capital and revenue implications, and timing of implementation plan
- Clarify with the school: are they allowing parents to pick and choose which lunches they would like to take weekly; will they have a policy where if you have a free school meal (FSM) you have it for a whole term and rather than picking days.
- Ask parents to see what the likelihood is of them enrolling their child for a meal. We are advising schools to carry out this piece of work so we can work on more practical figures.
2 Physical Capacity
Kitchen Capacity and Equipment
- Assess kitchen capacity to house additional equipment required; is the school already a production kitchen or not?
- If a kitchen delivers to another site will they be capable of handling their extra numbers and the send outs extra?
- If they are a transported to kitchen is there any scope / funding to make them into a production kitchen?
- Assess practical implications of the anticipated increase in school meal take up of the new policy in relation to food storage facilities, fridges, dry storage etc.
- We carried out a detailed school by school audit of the implications of an increased take-up of school meals was undertaken across all nursery and primary schools. The Audit identified considerable essential investments required in capacity at a number of schools and on the basis of the anticipated take up of 85%.
- Increase the attractiveness of school meals to increase take-up; for example, we replaced all flight trays with separate plates, bowls etc.
Dining Arrangements – School considerations
- Review capacity of dining hall, dining furniture, as well as any logistical problems faced by individual schools for the lunch time period
- Consider the quality of the dining environment
- Consider the logistics of higher throughput of meals – potential implications for school timetable to ensure sufficient time to deliver the increased number of meals
- Adequate dining time is an important aspect of the success of scheme; consider the timings for service, and whether extra service points will be required.
- Schools need to assess deployment of supervisory staff over lunch time period. This depends on balance of children that have packed lunch already in the school hall.
3 Staffing capacity
- Ensure the capacity of catering providers to be able to manage increase take up with suitably qualified and trained staff
- Working on a 1hour to 10 meal ratio can more hours be awarded to existing staff or is there a need to hire extra hands.
4 Funding – advise clients on investment needed
- additional large kitchen equipment – to cover storage (fridges) and cooking: combi-ovens prep machines etc.
- additional serving trolleys and serveries – hot and cold cabinets; hot plates etc.
- kitchen refurbishments and extensions
- small kitchen items including light equipment, cutlery, plates, bowls etc
5 Questions to ask prior to carrying out survey of provision
- Do you currently allow pupils to pick and choose if they are having a lunch daily?
- If yes to Q1, will you be adopting this policy with KS1 from September?
- If no to Q1, over which period (i.e. weekly, half termly) do you ask pupils to enrol into school meals before making a change?
- Have you asked KS1 parents based on the above to see if they are looking to enrol in the UFSM scheme?
- If yes to Q2, what % of parents are looking to enrol on UFSM and over which period (i.e. if daily which days and if weekly or half termly)?
- If no to Q2, suggest you do gather this information, so both the school and caterer can plan how the extra numbers will affect, service, length of lunch, staffing on both sides etc.