Different aids are put in place by the municipalities, the departments and the regions to help the most modest families to finance the school canteen. What aid in primary school, middle school and high school? Who can benefit from the 1 euro canteen? Our advice for asking for help with the school canteen.
Pupils, from kindergarten to high school, can have lunch in the canteen of their school. In primary school, it is the municipality or the public establishment for inter-municipal cooperation (EPCI) which is responsible for this. In college it is the department, and in high school, this responsibility lies with the region. Open to all, school catering offers students the possibility of having lunch with a balanced meal adapted to their nutritional needs.. Its amount is variable and, even if it is sometimes indexed on the family quotient (and therefore the financial possibilities of meals), it remains too high for certain families. Here is the financial aid that can be granted to parents for the school canteen.
What are the aids for the canteen at school, college and high school?
The region, the department and the municipality can support and help parents who have difficulty paying for the school canteen: by directing them to a social worker, thanks to:
- aid for the canteen of the General Council called “elementary school attendance scholarship”,
- through the social fund for canteens in college or high school
- the device “the canteen at 1 euro”.
What are the criteria for awarding aid for the school canteen?
Aid is of course granted according to social criteria, according to the situation and the difficulties of each family. However, it is difficult to give general criteria that could apply to all situations. In the case of social fund for colleges and high schools which allows an exemption from part or even all of the costs of half-board, the conditions of allocation are set each year by the board of directors of the establishment and validated by the head of the latter. They therefore differ from one establishment to another. In primary school, you have to get information from the town hall or the school social worker.
Aid also exists at the level of the department, especially when the child is educated in an elementary school far from his home and must stay in the canteen. But here again, the amount of aid and the allocation criteria are variable.
What is the “1 euro canteen” scheme?
Contrary to popular belief, the 1 euro canteen system is not intended for individuals (and therefore parents!) but for communities. There is therefore no action to be taken on the side of the families. By setting up social pricing in school canteens, this system allows children from the most modest families to eat in the canteen for a maximum of 1 euro. Since April 1, 2021, state aid is therefore 3 euros per meal billed at a maximum of 1 euro.
As specified on the website of the Service and Payments Agency (a service founded by the Government in 2009), the municipalities must meet certain criteria and the aid is paid on three conditions:
- The school catering price list must provide for at least three tranches, calculated according to family income or ideally the family quotient; at least one tranche must be less than or equal to €1 and one greater than €1.
- The rate less than or equal to €1 is allocated to families whose family quotient of the CAF is less than or equal to 1,000 euros (or equivalence in terms of income depending on the number of children)
- A deliberation fixes this social pricing, with a fixed or unlimited duration.
Since August 1, 2022, the social rate of one euro maximum, allowing to receive the state aid of 3 euros, is allocated to families whose family quotient CAF is less than or equal to 1000 euros. This corresponds, for example, to incomes of 2,500 euros for a family with one child and to incomes of 4,000 euros for a family with three children.