Sharon Hodgson MP: Labour’s breakfast clubs go further than ever to support children, and there is so much opportunity for more

This Labour Government has already kickstarted our Plan for Change with the launch of the universal primary breakfast clubs. We will give every child the opportunity to succeed, by setting them up for the day with a nutritious breakfast.

Breakfast clubs are shown to improve attainment – specifically numeracy and literacy rates. A universal offer means that there is no stigma, with every child supported the same.

We do not means test food in hospitals, so we should not be doing for same for school food either. Labour’s breakfast clubs mean that every child will be supported, every school morning. It also means all parents are supported with 30 minutes extra childcare. It is a cross-cutting policy that feeds children and gives parents the opportunity to work. However, this International School Meals Day – on Thursday 13th March 2025 – I know we can do better. Free school meals are lifechanging for pupils – no one knows this better than myself. Growing up as a recipient of free school meals, knowing that there will be food at lunchtime gave me that security that going into the afternoon, I wouldn’t be hungry. Right now, there are 900,000 children and young people that are living in poverty, but not receiving the crucial support that free school meals provides. The current threshold – a household income of £7,400 – simply is not enough. There are struggling families that are in desperate need of that extra safety net free school meals provides. To make matters worse, there are also children who are eligible for free school meals, but because of admin barriers and a complex application process, they aren’t signed up for them. Latest estimates put this figure at around 200,000 children. These are children in the greatest need, but admin barriers mean they aren’t receiving the meal at lunchtime that they are entitled to. Automatically enrolling eligible pupils into free school meals would solve this problem entirely, and bring the extra benefits of pupil premium funding – of up to £1,455 extra per child that signs up. Because free school meals are a statutory scheme, the funding does already exist as these children could start claiming the meal at any point.

This Government has the tools to improve the lives of so many children, and with the incoming Child Poverty Strategy, intends to use them. But I know more can be done, and simple changes like automatically enrolling pupils to free school meals – a measure that would cost very little – would be lifechanging for so many.