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In an announcement to members the leading school meals organisation said Brad has served LACA with distinction over many years, including as a previous chair (2022/23) and most recently as vice-chair.

He will be supported by senior members of the National Steering Group: Judith Gregory (immediate past-chair), Neil Porter (business director) and Bryan Lygate (vice-chair elect).

Brad’s focus as chair is clear and urgent: fighting for the funding our sector needs so every child - especially the most vulnerable - can rely on a healthy, hot school meal every single day. That fight has become even more important in recent days.

Response to the FSM funding announcement in England

The Government’s decision to raise the free school meal rate by just 2% to £2.66 is, quite frankly, disgraceful.

At a time when food inflation has risen by around 50% since 2020, when school caterers are facing soaring ingredient, staffing and energy costs, and when the Government claims it wants to lift children out of poverty, this level of funding is nowhere near enough. By its own measures, food inflation is suggested to reach 5.7% by the end of the year.

For many pupils, their school lunch is their only hot, nutritious meal of the day. Underfunding this service puts those children at direct risk - and it is the poorest children who will feel the consequences first.

This decision is not just disappointing. It is the opposite of what a Government that states they have a commitment to tackling child poverty should be doing. Meanwhile, ministers have placed additional pressures on our sector:

• Increasing the National Living Wage and London Living Wage
• Expanding entitlement to free school meals to those in receipt of universal credit
• Continuing to ignore the widening gap between real costs and free school meals funding

Caterers cannot keep absorbing these pressures indefinitely. Ultimately, if this continues, quality can only be compromised and services will – and sadly already have - collapsed. Children will suffer. LACA will not allow this issue to be ignored.

Next steps

LACA will be writing immediately to the Prime Minister, the Chancellor and the Secretary of State for Education to set out the scale of the crisis and demand urgent action.

The message will be direct: FSM funding must rise to at least £3.45 per meal (as of 2025/26), index-linked, if this Government is serious about child health, child poverty and the future of the school meals service. 

Under Brad’s leadership, LACA will continue to speak clearly, forcefully and relentlessly on behalf of our members - and on behalf of the millions of children who depend on a safe, sustainable and properly funded school food system.

LACA appreciate all the hard work the front-line staff have carried out over the past 12 months to ensure children are able to access a hot, nutritious lunch every day. LACA also wanted to take this opportunity to wish you a merry Christmas. Thank you all for your support and passion.