The price of school meals will be frozen in Gwynedd after councillors admitted concerns that they are now being served to fewer than half of primary pupils.

A report presented to the council cabinet on Monday sought permission to keep the daily price at £2.50 a day despite warning scrapping the planned 10p increase would cost the authority over £82,000.

The authority’s head of education told members  that the current cost in Gwynedd is already among the most expensive in Wales.

He added that there had been a pattern of fewer children taking up school meals following price rises, warning that a further hike would likely see a further fall from the current 46 per cent figure.

The council leader, Cllr Dyfrig Siencyn, conceded another 10p a day would have an effect on many families.

While Cllr Catrin Wager raised concern over child poverty and that many working families on low incomes were struggling to pay as working tax credits do not equate to free school meals.

“I think it’s important that we, as a council, do all we can to support these families by keeping the cost down as low as possible as it’s important that they have access to school meals,” she added.

The head of finance confirmed that the authority had set aside money when it became apparent that the expected income from the last school meal hike in 2017 would not be realised.

Cllr Gareth Thomas said that he was alarmed that the take-up had fallen under 50 per cent but saw a price freeze as the “sensible thing to do.”

Cllr Ioan Thomas added: “This is a fine example of a department looking to generate income but we need to be mindful that when looking to do that it can sometimes have the opposite effect.”

In response, the head of education accepted that the authority may need to look at “more hollistic” approaches in future.

The report was approved unanimously by the cabinet, meaning that the price of school meals will remain at £2.50 from September 2019.