Breakfast clubs early adopters scheme
Information for schools on what the breakfast clubs early adopters scheme is.
Applies to England
Applications to register interest in the early adopter scheme have now closed. We will contact you in January 2025 to:
- tell you if your expression of interest has been successful
- ask you to confirm that you accept
Overview
The government is committed to offering a free breakfast club in every primary school in England. Breakfast clubs support children’s attendance and attainment, enabling them to thrive academically and socially.
Schools with primary-school-aged children can apply to become an early adopter of our universal free breakfast clubs scheme.
We will fund up to 750 participating state-funded schools to provide children with access to a breakfast club that involves free food and childcare, starting from April 2025.
A previous version of this guidance had more information on which schools were eligible to apply. This is available on the National Archives.
Purpose of the scheme
If you become early adopters of our breakfast club scheme, you will have the unique opportunity to shape national breakfast club policy, contributing directly to its design and implementation. By participating, you will help the government to provide positive outcomes for children, families and communities across England.
The scheme will directly benefit the children and families of participating schools. It will also help us test and learn what works for a national rollout.
If you take part in the scheme, you will support us to:
- understand how schools design and implement their offer at a local level
- identify any barriers to implementation and delivery challenges to understand the support that schools need, such as space and premises requirements
- better understand parental demand and pupil take-up over time
We will select early adopter schools across different school types, sizes and geographical areas to ensure a wide representation. We want to test and learn with as many different types of schools as possible, including schools that work with or are considering working with private, voluntary and independent (PVI) providers to deliver their breakfast clubs.
What we expect from you
We expect that all schools taking part in the scheme will, as a minimum:
- deliver breakfast club provision that provides healthy food, compliant with the Requirements for School Food Regulations 2014 (also known as the School Food Standards)
- deliver breakfast club provision that provides at least 30 minutes of free childcare before the start of the school day
- ensure the club is open to all children of primary-school age on roll at the school
- provide this club free to parents and carers
- regularly report data and take part in an evaluation of the scheme as requested
Beyond the minimum expectations, you have flexibility in how to deliver breakfast clubs. You know your pupils, families and context best.
We want you to have the opportunity to test different ways to implement the breakfast club policy to meet the needs of your pupils and their families. For example, you may wish to:
- deliver beyond the minimum expectations
- work with PVI providers to offer breakfast club provision
- offer the provision at another site, as long as it remains convenient for parents and carers
We will support you to actively test and innovate your approaches. We will use this learning to inform the rollout of breakfast clubs on a national scale. The scheme is part of a wider package of interventions to ensure support is available to families before and after school. The government continues to expect that all schools that educate primary-school-aged pupils have school-run or PVI-provider-run wraparound childcare, so that families have access to the childcare they need.
To support you in implementing the scheme, we will publish guidance and supporting materials (including case studies and templates) in January 2025. We will also provide further targeted support, including on food procurement, to successful early adopter schools before the April 2025 launch.
Funding
Early adopter schools will be funded directly by the government. You should use this funding to cover:
- food
- delivery
- staffing costs
We will publish full details of how funding will be determined alongside the guidance in January 2025.
We will make a:
- one-off payment between April and May 2025 to assist with set-up costs
- second payment, in arrears, between September and November 2025
The amount you receive in the second payment will be based on the number of children attending the breakfast club. Some schools will also be eligible for an additional amount depending on:
- additional need (Ever 6 FSM)
- the variation in staffing costs based on geographical location
We will aim to communicate payment schedules for the following academic year in summer term 2025.
In addition to direct funding, we recognise the importance of ensuring that practical support is available to schools as they seek to establish high-quality breakfast club provision. This is why we are funding a package of support for all schools in the scheme. We will confirm further details of the support available in early 2025.
Wraparound childcare and National School Breakfast Programme (NSBP)
Participating schools in the breakfast clubs early adopters scheme will provide access to a free, universal breakfast club lasting at least 30 minutes that involves food. This will go further than existing programmes by ensuring that breakfast and a soft, supportive start to the school day is both free and available to all those who need it, regardless of where they live or their circumstances.
The scheme will focus on how we can build on what is already happening in schools, including in those schools that receive wraparound childcare funding to introduce or expand before- and after-school provision or in those schools that are on the NSBP scheme. All schools are eligible to apply, including schools currently on the NSBP.
If you are on the NSBP and are selected for the scheme, you will no longer receive funding through the NSBP once the scheme starts in April 2025, but you can continue to order food and receive support from Family Action.
Contact us
If you have any questions about the breakfast club early adopters scheme after reading our guidance, you can ask us through our contact page.
Updates to this page
Published 23 September 2024Last updated 27 November 2024 + show all updates
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Updated who is eligible, expectations for participants and how schools can apply.
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First published.