Sri Lanka
USA
Canada
India
UK
UAE
Starting next week, 750 schools across England will offer free breakfast clubs, providing much-needed morning childcare for families — but teachers are raising alarms over inadequate funding.
From Tuesday, over 750 schools in England will begin offering free breakfast clubs, granting parents half an hour of morning childcare before school — a move hailed by the government as a step towards reducing child poverty and easing financial pressure on working families.
The initiative, backed by £30 million in government funding, is expected to save parents up to £450 per year and provide up to 95 additional childcare hours per child. It is being rolled out as a pilot scheme running until July, ahead of a proposed nationwide expansion.
However, concerns have already been raised by teaching unions and school leaders, who argue that the current funding levels are insufficient.
Paul Whiteman, General Secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT), acknowledged the positive intentions behind the programme but warned that many schools are finding the funding inadequate:
“At a time when school budgets are already stretched, most can ill-afford to subsidise this shortfall,” he said.
He emphasized the importance of addressing this issue before any national rollout and noted the government has assured schools that funding will be reviewed during the pilot phase.
Similarly, teaching union NASUWT welcomed the scheme’s role in combating child hunger but stressed the need for close monitoring to prevent funding gaps from affecting other essential school provisions.
Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson described the breakfast clubs as central to Labour’s “Plan for Change”:
“Free breakfast clubs are at the heart of making working parents’ lives easier and more affordable, while breaking down barriers to opportunity for every child,” she said.
The Department for Education echoed this sentiment, stating that breakfast clubs play an important role in tackling child poverty. Schools participating in the pilot will receive setup payments for materials and equipment, and will then be reimbursed based on attendance. A school with 50% participation, for example, could receive up to £23,000 annually, according to the government.
Devon leads the rollout with 25 participating schools, followed by Birmingham, England’s largest local authority, with 24. Meanwhile, both Wales and Scotland already have similar free breakfast programmes in place for primary schools.
Despite the initiative’s promise, political tension surrounds the launch. Shadow Education Minister Neil O’Brien criticised Labour for cancelling planned child benefit reforms and claimed the Conservative government had already supported over 2,000 schools through its previous breakfast programme:
“Children and their families deserve better,” he added.
#UKEducation #BreakfastClubs #FreeSchoolMeals #LabourPlanForChange #ChildPoverty #MorningChildcare #UKSchools #NAHT #NASUWT
