School Feeding caterers still not paid

Some caterers attached to the School Feeding Programme have not been paid for the past four months.

This was the claim being made by one of the caterers who said his family had been in the catering business for the past 21 years.

He said they had been getting late payments since last year, and had not been paid since this July.

“An arrangement was in place that once you provide the service, you provide the relevant documentation a couple of days after the end of the month and then you get paid. They have not paid us for several months and right now they owe my mother an average of $700,000-$800,000. I don’t know if maybe they think my mother has a healthy cash flow.”

The man said several caterers had given up their contracts as they were unable to purchase the necessary food supplies.

He added, “We have statutory obligations. We were supposed to pay VAT (Value Added Tax) next week, but we don’t have the money. Whatever money we have is to buy produce. We always pay our returns on time because there is a penalty and interest added if we pay late.”

Newsday tried contacting the chief executive officer of the National Schools Dietary Services Stacy Barran yesterday. However, Newsday was told she was in a meeting, and then she left for lunch. She did not return the calls and all calls made to her cell phone went directly to voicemail.