Labour pledge free breakfast clubs for every primary pupil

Labour has pledged to provide free breakfast clubs for all primary school pupils should they win the next election. Labour calculates the cost of the pledge at £365million, which it will fund via reinstating the top 45p rate of income tax for those earning over £150,000.

Breakfast clubs are already provided in many schools, funded either from the school’s own budget or using food provided through the government’s national school breakfast scheme. Under Labour’s plan money would be sent directly to schools to provide breakfast club provision.

Labour’s shadow education secretary Bridget Phillipson announced the proposal during her speech to the Labour Party conference in Liverpool. She described the plan as ‘the first step’ towards building ‘a modern childcare system’.

Commenting on the announcement Paul Whiteman, general secretary of school leaders' union NAHT, said: ‘Hunger is a real concern for school staff who regularly see children arriving in the morning without having eaten, and therefore not ready to learn.’. He added: ‘A commitment to properly fund breakfast club provision and to expand it would be welcome. A positive start to the day and a nutritious breakfast before school for those who need it could make a real difference. If properly funded and resourced this entitlement is something school leaders would support.’

Writing on Twitter, Christine Farquharson of the Institute for Fiscal Studies queried whether Labour had set aside sufficient funding for the policy, noting that it would depend on the level of take up as well as factors such as how much childcare was offered by the proposed breakfast clubs.

Elsewhere in her speech, Ms Phillipson said Labour would also reform the apprenticeship levy, as well as create a new expert ‘Skills England’ body, to oversee the party’s skills reforms.

Greensheets will have details of education announcements from the Conservative Party conference in our next edition.