An innovative collaboration with the Department for Education’s (DfE) Get help buying for schools (GHBS) service helped Southwark Council to set up its own bespoke school catering services framework — one that is already attracting wider interest across London.
The challenge
With funding from the Greater London Authority to pay for school meals, borough chiefs wanted better oversight, to ensure money was being spent wisely and catering services were aligned with the authority’s school meals transformation programme.
“We had the funding commitment from the council, but we didn't have a local authority caterer so our oversight of what was being served in schools was very arm's length,” said Gillian Boundy, Senior Public Health Programme Manager at Southwark Council.
“So, part of the aim was to try to get a little bit more oversight into what was on the plates and thinking about what levers we could use as a local authority to improve quality and value for money.
"The individuals in schools who are making quite sizeable procurement decisions - a school food contract can be £600,000 in a small primary school - don't necessarily have the capacity and knowledge that it takes to do it properly. The supplier bargaining power and the buyer bargaining power, it's off."
A borough-wide solution
As part of its transformation programme the council ran training for school business managers to help them procure catering services more effectively. GHBS was one of the tools promoted to support that.
When school business managers started using the service, GHBS triage staff began reaching out to Gillian for help completing school specifications and it quickly became apparent that a borough-wide approach would be better.
“It became quite clear that it would be more efficient if there was a one-size-fits-all specification and terms and conditions,” said Gillian. “What had been an ambition to create a centralised contract for Southwark actually came to be a bespoke framework agreement with procurement support for school business managers."
Specialist support every step of the way
From that point, GHBS worked closely with the council over an 18-month period - first to tender the framework agreement itself, then to support individual schools.
"We were very grateful for the specialist procurement support from the GHBS team in doing that framework,” said Gillian. “We knew what specification we wanted but we weren't experts in the Public Contract Regulations (PCR) 2015 and they really held our hands through that process. The team have been incredibly supportive.
"Just the flexibility in the service to even consider working at borough level was fantastic. It's really been a very collaborative relationship."
What the framework delivers
Launched in August 2025, the framework gives Southwark Council eight approved catering providers, offering genuine choice - from large national caterers suited to secondary schools, through to smaller providers with a stronger focus on provenance and local produce.
“It allows the schools to retain autonomy over their supplier and some choice around their specific school characteristics and which service they want to offer but also gives the local authority oversight of the service specification, the contract monitoring, the supplier pricing and menus,” said Gillian.
Critically, the framework delivers transparency on pricing. Rather than schools facing a single price per plate with hidden additional charges and unexplained annual increases, it introduces a profit and loss model with guarantees, making costs for food, staffing, management fees and disposables clearly visible.
The framework also reflects Southwark's wider social value priorities. It requires suppliers to pay the London Living Wage and includes commitments on carbon reduction planning, food waste management, employment of care leavers and apprenticeships, and potential support for holiday food and fun clubs.
Early signs of success
The framework is still in its early stages, with one school having completed a successful call-off and five more currently in the tender process. But the reaction has been telling. When Gillian announced it at a school business managers' meeting, she recalled: "Everybody who had to tender started clapping and cheering.
“We suspect our framework will be more useful to small schools that don't have the big procurement functions behind an academy. We're thinking about our maintained schools, our faith schools, who need some support through that procurement system.”
Gillian is already sharing Southwark's experience with other London boroughs and there has been interest from Greater London Authority's policy team around whether the model could be adapted for a city-wide framework.
"Get Help Buying for Schools gives some comfort to people who've been asked to do things who haven't necessarily got the skills. I think it's a win-win,” she said.
“I've learned a lot. Should we do this again, I'd feel more confident tendering a framework agreement. I've certainly benefited a lot from the help, and I think the council's learned a lot.
“The GHBS team have all been very professional and incredibly flexible, paid great attention to detail - and have educated me along the way.”
Find out more about how the Get Help Buying for Schools team can support your school catering procurement.
Any savings, benefits and outcomes described in this case study were provided by Southwark Council and reflect its specific experience and circumstances. Individual results will vary between schools and trusts.
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