IFS examines Labour's plans for free breakfast clubs

The Instisute of Fiscal Studies (IFS) has examined the Labour party's promise to introduce free breakfast clubs in all primary schools in England.

Around 12 per cent of state schools in England already offer a taxpayer-subsidised breakfast club through the National School Breakfast Club Programme (NSBP), but Labour’s proposal would expand breakfast clubs to all primary schools in England, continue existing provision for low-income pupils via the NSBP (which is set to run out in July 2025) and increase the generosity of the funding. 

The IFS highlights that the term ‘breakfast club’ can mean different things. At its simplest, it refers to the provision of breakfast integrated into the usual school day (typically in the classroom at the start of the first lesson). In contrast, a more ‘traditional’ breakfast club provides a space for pupils to eat breakfast and socialise before the school day begins.
 
The report says that breakfast clubs can potentially reduce pressures on family budgets as families will not have to feel children at home, however, the financial burden of breakfast foods tends to be much lower than other meals.

A potentially more valuable benefit for parents, at least from traditional breakfast clubs, is access to free or low-cost before-school childcare. For those currently using them intensively, breakfast clubs can be a noticeable cost for families: based on recent patterns of usage and spending, a parent whose child attends an average breakfast club five days a week during term time would spend £760 each year. So a proposal to make breakfast clubs universally free could save these families a meaningful amount. 

The IFS analysis says that the options for designing a breakfast club come with different costs, as well as different benefits. Labour’s manifesto committed to spending £315 million on breakfast clubs in 2028–29, but without giving further details of what model of provision they intend to adopt or what they expect take-up to be.

A food-only model, such as breakfast in the classroom, is cheaper than a programme that combines food with childcare which requires more staff time, typically from teaching assistants and teachers. Schools may achieve this through extra paid staff time, reallocating staff time from other tasks, or recruiting volunteers.

Based on the experience of the national school breakfast programme, the estimated annual cost today would be around £55 per pupil participating for food-only provision and double that (around £110) for a ‘traditional’ before-school breakfast club.

Labour’s manifesto offers £315 million overall in 2028; this could be enough to fund all primary school pupils under a food-only model, or 60 per cent of pupils if the party plumps for a traditional breakfast club with some childcare element. 

While the latter represents a far-from-universal take-up rate, experience suggests that most pupils do not take up breakfast club provision on offer. An evaluation of breakfast clubs in England found take-up rates of around 20 per cent, similar to take-up rates of 20–25 per cent in Wales.

Take-up of the National School Breakfast Programme in England is somewhat higher, at around 35 per cent (though take-up of traditional breakfast clubs is less than half that rate). All would be consistent with the total budget that Labour has set out. The funding pot would also allow for reasonable rises in take-up, which have been documented during expansions of breakfast clubs in other contexts.