The expansion of Free School Meals and planned changes to school food standards are increasing the strategic importance of how England’s schools procure food.

The Food Foundation has highlighted school food procurement as a significant opportunity to use public spending to support British producers, healthier diets and more resilient food supply chains. The intervention comes as the UK government expands Free School Meal eligibility and prepares to update school food standards.

The Food Foundation is a UK food policy organisation focused on transforming the food system through research, evidence and policy advocacy. Its latest analysis argues that procurement decisions can influence the availability of healthier food, create more reliable markets for producers and support local economic activity.

School food procurement sits within a wider public-sector food market worth around £5 billion annually, with education accounting for approximately 60% of spending, according to analysis cited by the Food Foundation. England's schools serve around one billion meals each year, creating significant purchasing power across the food supply chain.

The strategic significance lies in the gap between government ambitions and how public food purchasing is currently structured. Labour's 2024 manifesto committed to a target of at least half of public-sector food being locally produced or certified to higher environmental standards. CPRE research estimates that meeting this ambition could generate around £1 billion in annual value for British farmers through more stable demand.

For procurement professionals, the opportunity is not simply about changing individual menus. Procurement specifications can influence supplier selection, contract structures, sourcing requirements and the ability of smaller producers to compete for public-sector business. The Food Foundation argues that stronger procurement requirements could create more predictable demand for British horticulture, pulses, beans, peas and minimally processed plant proteins.

The expansion of Free School Meals could further increase the scale of this market. Research cited by the Food Foundation indicates that extending eligibility to children in households receiving Universal Credit could increase demand for UK-produced food in schools by at least 7%, creating additional opportunities for farmers, producers and food-service suppliers.

The current procurement framework, however, remains fragmented. The Government Buying Standards for Food and Catering Services apply to central government departments, the NHS, armed forces and prison services, but are not mandatory for education settings. Schools, local authorities, academy trusts and contracted catering providers therefore operate across different procurement structures.

That creates a commercial challenge as well as a policy opportunity. Smaller suppliers may struggle to access large contracts, while schools and catering providers face pressure around affordability, capacity and workforce requirements. The 2024 independent review of public-sector food procurement also identified fragmented procurement and limited accessibility for SMEs and farmers as areas requiring improvement.

There are indications that stronger procurement does not necessarily require a straightforward increase in food costs. CPRE's 2026 research highlights examples where local sourcing and higher-quality food have been incorporated into existing budgets through different purchasing and menu-planning approaches.

For public procurement teams, the issue is therefore moving from whether food procurement can support wider policy objectives to how those objectives can be translated into measurable contract requirements. Clearer standards, better supplier access and improved monitoring could make public food purchasing a more effective tool for supply-chain resilience.

For the sector, the lesson is direct: public procurement can shape food markets well beyond the point of purchase. As school meal demand expands, the way contracts are designed and suppliers are selected could determine whether increased public spending simply feeds existing supply chains or helps build a more resilient, locally connected food system.

Source: The Food Foundation / CPRE / UK Government / Sustain