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Over 300,000 children set to benefit from Best Start free breakfast clubs in April

ended 03. February 2026

Over 300,000 children are set to benefit from Best Start free breakfast clubs in April, the government has announced.

Schools already enrolled on the programme have served up 7 million meals to date and saved families up to £450 per year, while giving them up to 95 hours of precious time back each morning. Meanwhile, children are benefitting from healthy breakfasts and being in school earlier, with evidence showing improved attendance, attainment and behaviour.

With the government’s free breakfast clubs already proving to be a lifeline for so many, it is now calling on more primary schools to sign up.

Applications open today for 1,500 schools to join in September, so that 680,000 children will benefit by September.

Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson said: "Free breakfast clubs are revolutionising morning routines up and down the country, becoming an essential part of modern-day life for working families.

"From settling a child into the school day to helping parents get to work, free breakfast clubs are giving every child the best start in life - delivering on our plan for national renewal.

“I was raised by a single parent, so I know first-hand the struggles facing parents trying to make ends meet and how important it is to tackle outdated stigmas with practical support that people can feel every day.”

  • How important are the free meals? 
  • Should more schools sign up?
  • What does it say about our economy that kids aren't being fed properly by parents?

Responses asap.

3 responses from the Newspage community

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Editor
Naina ClaytonVerified
Founder at Sandwoman Business Support
This is fantastic news. In today's climate where families are struggling to provide food to their children, this is a most welcome move.

All schools who are eligible to sign up should and help provide the children with at least one decent meal a day. It is important to children that they are fed as breakfast is an important meal and means they are able to concentrate on learning.
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Samuel Mather-HolgateVerified
Managing Director & IFA at Mather and Murray Financial
Despite the cacophony of bad news, this is another example of where the government are getting it right. They have prioritised health and education and they are moving at pace to improve the lives of children and families. Every school should be signing up for this initiative as it benefits all children, and there is a mountain of evidence that hungry children don't fulfil their potential.
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Kundan BhaduriVerified
Entrepreneur, Investor and Landlord at The Kushman Group
We are witnessing yet another nationalisation of parenting. By expanding the school day to include feeding time, the state is quietly accepting that the cost of living crisis, fuelled by their own high-tax, high-regulation policies has made the basic act of providing breakfast unaffordable for working families.

Instead of fixing the root causes of poverty by allowing parents to keep more of what they earn, the government’s solution is to turn teachers into waiters and schools into food banks.

Furthermore, where is the efficiency audit in all this? In the private sector, a breakfast rollout would be costed to the penny. In the public sector, this smells like another black hole of procurement where the cost of administration will likely dwarf the cost of the cereal.

Schools are already crumbling and struggling to teach maths and English and we are now burdening them with the logistics of mass catering. We don't need a "Nanny State" buttering our crumpets, frankly.