CATERING workers who feed thousands of schoolchildren in West Yorkshire are being forced to use foodbanks to feed their own children at home.

The profiteering contractor which employs them on behalf of the local education authority has changed the way they are paid, meaning they have no money for food or to pay their rent, public service union Unison said today.

Catering and other school services have been privatised by Labour-controlled Wakefield district council.

The council established a “partnership” with private firm Engie to provide services such as school catering, repairs and maintenance.

Engie, which is described as a “leading energy and services” company, subcontracted catering services to notorious privateer ISS.

ISS arbitrarily changed the way it pays its workers. The new system meant they were not paid for three weeks — and then received only two weeks’ pay.

Some workers were left in “severe financial hardship,” unable to pay their rent and driven to using foodbanks to feed their children, according to Unison.

Unison regional organiser Rianne Hooley said: “This is not just a problem in Wakefield as ISS has contracts up and down the country and has chosen to change the pay cycle of all its front-line workers.

“The majority of school-meals workers are low-paid and this disruption has hit them hard. It is utterly scandalous that these workers have been forced into hardship and have had to use foodbanks.

She said the council should consider whether ISS “are fit to deliver services in Wakefield.”