Why the Insane school milk price increase?
Posted by Sc2SuperJack@reddit | AskUK | View on Reddit | 34 comments
The free / subsidised child's milk at school is now ordered through a company: https://coolmilk.com/
Before, it was £4 per term for the subsidised milk. And now it would cost £19.22! That's £1.63 per 1L which is more expensive than supermarket milk!
Apparently it's a change ordered by the council / government but I can't find a reference.
Anyone else got school milk horror stories or explanation?
Ladybird_126@reddit
I've always had to pay for my eldests milk, because she was 5 before school started. We stopped it some time ago (she's in year 4) but every so often she wants to restart...but we stopped because most of the time the milk was off! I remind her and she backs down again. But I don't understand why I should be paying a fortune for milk that can't be drunk.
PigneySnoo@reddit
You don't have to buy it. Send your child with milk in a small thermos flask, or give them a glass of milk before or after school if you feel milk is important.
I've never heard of primary schools offering children milk (outside of alongside school dinner) to be honest.
SuzLouA@reddit
All primary school aged children are offered it for free until they turn five, and it’s available for purchase thereafter. If you have a kid who is old in the year you may have forgotten since they wouldn’t have had it for long.
My kids have an autumn and winter birthday respectively, so neither were eligible beyond the first reception term. We haven’t bothered to pay beyond that. As you rightly say, there are plenty of opportunities for kids to drink milk outside school if you prioritise it, as well as plenty of opportunities for them to consume dairy in other ways both in and out of school.
kettlejuices@reddit
When did this come into effect?
SuzLouA@reddit
https://www.nurserymilk.co.uk/about-nursery-milk-scheme
PigneySnoo@reddit
Is it really national? My children were never offered it under 5 and we have never been offered the option to purchase milk at any age.
SuzLouA@reddit
It’s government funded but it appears the provider has to sign up. Possibly your school didn’t.
https://www.nurserymilk.co.uk/about-nursery-milk-scheme
mampiwoof@reddit
supermarket milk is a loss leader, they don’t even pay the farmers the cost of producing it a lot of the time. Your concept of what milk should cost is a marketing trick
Willeth@reddit
I'd guess anyone in their 60s.
davehemm@reddit
In their 50s. The milk snatcher cast her wand when I was at school.
hdhxuxufxufufiffif@reddit
No she didn't, you'd have to be in your sixties at least to have been affected by Maggie Thatcher, Milk Snatcher as she snatched the milk when she was Education Secretary in 1971.
oldskoollondon@reddit
We had free milk in the early 1980s, in Nottinghamshire. Tiny milk bottles, cream on the top and more often than not either frozen or gone off!
StuckWithThisOne@reddit
It must’ve been implemented gradually. My mum vividly remembers this and she was born in 75. She remembers it because she was in a neglectful household and it was the only time she got milk.
davehemm@reddit
Ah ok, outer London Borough I grew up in had milk and it got patchy (late 70s) and then stopped in earlier years than it should have - remember parents talking about Thatcher.
MegaMolehill@reddit
They are packaging the milk in small cartons, delivery it to school regularly and make no money during school holidays. So I can see why it costs more than large cartons in a supermarket where they often sell it at a loss or for very little profit.
Sc2SuperJack@reddit (OP)
And that was all done before, at 5 times less the price.
Guitar-Inner@reddit
When is "before"?
Sc2SuperJack@reddit (OP)
3 months ago. Spring term. The change has just happened.
MetricDuckTon@reddit
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/school-milk-subsidy-scheme
Assuming the scheme is qualifying for this subsidy, it must mean it was being subject to additional subsidy before that is now gone.
MegaMolehill@reddit
But it wasn’t. More of it was subsidised.
Pedantichrist@reddit
Was it, or was it simply paid for by someone else?
heroics-delta8s@reddit
Anything that involves passing thorough people’s hands has increased in price. There’s been a number of changes that make employing people substantially more expensive and burdensome. Every pair of hands that this carton passes through is adding to the cost.
xPositor@reddit
I'm pretty sure the vast majority of cows are milked by machine nowadays. Goats, however...
Pedantichrist@reddit
I am old enough that I remember free school milk in the seventies.
Thatcher got blamed for getting rid of it, but unfairly (in this specific instance) because almost Al the removal of milk was done by previous and subsequent governments, she merely changed years slightly and had bad press (on this specific matter).
Electronic-Country63@reddit
It seems absolutely staggering that the government, council and other public sector bodies seem incapable of doing procurement without getting less favourable terms than the general public would.
The economies of scale involved should mean they get amazing value for money!
geeered@reddit
Supermarkets manage to buy milk with incredibly tight margins, which is often considered to be pretty unethical.
They also say "We handle all aspects of the communication and administration of school milk programmes, taking the burden off parents, schools and early years"... which you aren't going to get with Tesco and will have a cost associated, which otherwise would have had to come from somewhere.
I wonder if the increase in price is actually a more realistic price reflecting the administration and other costs that previously were being absorbed by the schools/government.
heroics-delta8s@reddit
This is the most likely.
wardyms@reddit
Are you saying it used to be subsidised and now it’s not subsidised?
You didn’t seem bothered when it was 34p a litre and who’s picking up the extra cost?
Sc2SuperJack@reddit (OP)
No, its still subsidised. As from what I've been told by the school. The council no longer manage it and have instead contracted it out.
wardyms@reddit
You’re being asked to pay £20 quid for 21 pints of milk and that’s subsidised? From what actual price?
Saltypeon@reddit
Kinda crazy when there is an over supply in the market and companies are cancelling contracts....
BulldenChoppahYus@reddit
So you’re saying that the price of milk is roughly the price of milk.
JanCueElQi@reddit
I wonder if your local area previously had some additional funding? I'm sure our school milk has been around the same price each term this year.
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