Families have plunged into school dinner debt of nearly £170,000 in North Ayrshire.
Parents owe exactly £168,854 for unpaid school meals in the area, figures reveal.
With lunches priced at £2.05 – that would account for more than 82,000 meals.
North Ayrshire Council’s unsettled pupil meal bill is one of the highest in Scotland. In comparison, East Ayrshire parents owe £10,756 and South Ayrshire £8519.
Across Scotland, the school meal debt figure stands at more than £1million according to freedom of information figures released by the Scottish Greens.
But not all authorities released the figures.
Green MSP Ross Greer said: “Children are going hungry in Scotland and we know that means-tested free school meals miss out far too many families who need them.
“This frankly astonishing mountain of school meal debt should be written off immediately.”
He called for the Scottish Government to follow the example of Finland and give all pupils free breakfast and lunch.
A North Ayrshire Council spokesman said: “Unfortunately, for a variety of reasons, a minority of parents will fall behind with payments.
“We currently employ a system called ParentPay, which allows parents to pay for their children’s school meals, trips, clothes and other activities within the school.
“The reported debt figure is a cumulative total that has accrued since the introduction of our cashless catering system in 2017. This figure includes the current debt on ParentPay and all debt that has transferred to the corporate debtors system.
The spokesman said the council works with parents to manage the money they owe the local authority.
He said: “We have a pro-active process which aims to reduce this debt while allowing parents to catch up on outstanding payments in a manageable way.”
“We would encourage any parents who have a query or need help with their ParentPay accounts to get in touch with us at ParentPayQueries@North-Ayrshire.gov.uk”
