Breakfast club debate

Monmouthshire Council has failed to track the impact of families being charged for school breakfast clubs, an opposition councillor has said.

A £1 charge for the childcare element of the hour-long school breakfast clubs was introduced last September, with the cost of breakfast remaining free of charge.

Councillor Dimitri Batrouni, leader of the Labour group, described the scheme as ‘regressive’ and claimed that the council was failing to monitor its effects on ‘just about managing’ families.

With data ‘limited’ since the policy’s recent introduction, the council is still assessing its impacts – but a senior councillor said a drop in breakfast club attendances had ‘exceeded expectations’.

A full council meeting on Thursday heard that breakfast club attendances at two primary schools in Cllr Batrouni’s ward had fallen since the charge was introduced.

“This is only a snapshot of two schools in Chepstow, it’s not a cross-county analysis, but I was promised that this would be monitored,” said Cllr Batrouni.

“When I asked officers what the data was telling us, ‘we’re not holding that data’ was the response. There was no tracking or monitoring.

“I urge the Conservatives to really think about this policy because it is affecting families who play by the rules and work hard, and you are punishing them.”

Liberal Democrat councillor Jo Watkins said the charge came as a ‘double whammy’ for parents with the council also raising primary school meal prices by 35p last year.

Labour councillor Armand Watts added: “You’re putting financial imposition on people that are already struggling. You’re like some economic Fagin hassling families for an extra bit of coin.”

Concerns were also raised about ParentPay, the online-only system used by parents to pay for their children’s meals – but a separate account is required to pay for breakfast clubs.

Councillor Richard John, cabinet member for children and young people, admitted that administrative burdens like ParentPay could still be a deterrent for parents.

But he said the policy was introduced following an ‘awful’ settlement from Welsh Government and that the council had to make ‘difficult decisions’ to protect school budegts.

Free breakfast clubs were funded by the Welsh Government until 2013, when the funding stream was given to councils via the revenue support grant (RSG).

“The RSG has been chipped away year after year,” said Cllr John.

“We’re not making a profit from breakfast club charges and we didn’t introduce them as a cash cow.

“This time last year we anticipated a drop in attendance, and that drop has exceeded expectations.

“But you can’t simply look at numbers and jump to a knee-jerk conclusion. We have to a detailed assessment, we can’t just do it by asking two schools how many attend the clubs.”