Chancellor pledges to begin rollout of free breakfast clubs from April 2025

Labour Chancellor Rachel Reeves has pledged to begin the rollout of free breakfast clubs in primary school from April 2025.

The Labour Party manifesto pledged to introduce free breakfast clubs in every primary school as part of its mission to break down the barriers to opportunity. The clubs will improve pupil behaviour, support families with the cost of living and help parents who are having to juggle work commitments.

Speaking at the Labour Party conference in Liverpool, the Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced that the ‘work of change has begun' as she confirms £7 million of funding for the Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson to begin the rollout of breakfast clubs from next April.

Under the Government's plans, funding will be made available by the Department for Education to invite up to 750 primary schools with primary aged pupils to become early adopters of the breakfast club programme in the summer term.

As part of the early adoptions adopters programme, the Department for Education will work collaboratively with the education sector, businesses and charities to test the delivery of the breakfast club programme to inform national rollout.

The Department will work with schools to understand how breakfast clubs can be delivered in a way that builds on what is already happening in our schools, meets the needs of parents and helps realise the benefits for pupils.

Speaking at the Labour Party Conference in Liverpool, Rachel Reeves said:

“I joined this party because of three words spoken in a conference hall in Blackpool 28 years ago: education, education, education.

“I joined this party because I believe in a Britain where hard work is once again met with fair reward because I believe that strong public services are the backbone of any decent society.

“And because I believe that people should rise and fall on their own merit, not on the circumstances of their birth.

“I don't want kids to succeed ‘against all odds'. I want them to succeed because they deserve it because the odds weren't stacked against them.

“That's the Britain I want to live in – just like every other parent who wants the best for their kids.”

She added:

“So, I will judge my time in office a success if I know that at the end of it there are working-class kids from ordinary backgrounds who lead richer lives, their horizons expanded and have the chance to thrive.

“That starts by taking the first step to deliver on our manifesto commitment to introduce free breakfast clubs in every primary school across England.

“With funding set aside to begin running free breakfast clubs in up to 750 primary schools with primary aged pupils next year ahead of a national rollout that will follow. This is about investing in education so we can invest in our economy too.

“Investing in the next generation so we can proudly say that they have had a chance to do better than those which came before it.

“The work of change has begun. The British people put their trust in Labour – and we will repay that trust.”

Ends

Notes:

• The Labour manifesto committed to introducing free breakfast clubs in every primary school.
  
  
• The Department for Education will invite up to 750 primary schools with primary aged pupils to become early adopters of the programme in the summer term (April-July 2025), providing funding of £7 million for these schools to run free breakfast clubs for their pupils.
  
  
• The Department for Education will work collaboratively with the education sector, including local authorities and childcare providers, to test the delivery of the breakfast club programme through these early adopters, to inform national rollout.
  
  
• The Department for Education will work with schools to understand how breakfast clubs can be delivered in a way that builds on what is already happening in our schools, meets the needs of parents and helps realise the benefits for pupils.
  
  
• Rising food insecurity means children are showing up to school hungry. In 2022/23, 17% of children, lived in a food insecure household, up from 12% in 21/22 and 38% of teachers reported an increase in numbers of pupils coming to school hungry since the beginning of the cost-of-living crisis.
  
  
• The breakfast club programme will contribute to the Government's aim in the Opportunity Mission to tackle child poverty. It will reduce the number of primary school pupils starting the school day hungry, enabling more children to start the school day ready to learn.