Cohesion: Southwark Case Study
FCSI Professional Members making a real difference to families in Southwark, South London
In an area of considerable deprivation, free school meals can be a lifeline for many families. The scheme is normally means-tested and many low income families sadly miss out. Southwark Council has taken firm action across the borough’s 25 secondary schools to address this, offering all 11-16 year old pupils from Universal Credit families access to a free lunch.
Getting the right people on board
This major initiative needed considerable expertise and ability to deliver. Following their successful launch of the Free School Meals project in Tower Hamlets, FCSI Professional Members Glenn Campbell and Aidan Ross of Cohesion Consulting were delighted to support Southwark Council to help devise and implement the catering solution for rollout to all schools in September and October 2023.
Gillian Boundy, Head of Programme – Place and Health Improvement, Public Health, Children & Adult Services, led the Project Board and Glenn and Aidan worked closely with Gillian and her colleagues in the multi-disciplinary project team.
From the outset, Glenn and Aidan were aware that the council’s previous experience in projects of this scale was limited to primary schools. As experts in the secondary school sector, they helped the Project Team navigate its complex stakeholder and operating environment, to ensure the delivery of a bespoke and best value catering solution.
Identifying the starting point
They conducted a feasibility study evaluating 25 school kitchens I n Southwark, looking at their capacity, service style and creating a gap analysis on catering equipment, till points and staffing levels.
At the same time, we conducted deep dives into each catering operation by:
- analysing sales data in each school and illustrating buying behaviours
- evaluating free school meals uptake in each school
- evaluating School Food Standards compliance
Their findings were included in the Board Report with costed recommendations that would optimise the uptake of free school meals.
Finding the gaps
During their research they discovered that from 20,000 students, free school meals eligibility was 51%. Of that 51%, only 50% of were taking their free school meal allowance regularly. To address the hidden tragedy of thousands of vulnerable students not accessing their free meal entitlement, Glenn and Aidan helped Southwark Council develop a robust stakeholder engagement strategy.
Creating the way forward
The solutions we proposed were:
- £405k of equipment purchased and installed in 16 schools
- £742k of labour costs to be included in the budget models for each school
- a contract review and addendum process for outsourced services to include the conditions of grant for the project funding
- a wider engagement plan for Headteachers, Business Managers and Chefs across the Borough to ensure full alignment and support with the project moving forward.
