What does the pledge mean? 

Under this commitment, free breakfast will be offered alongside childcare for pupils in state-funded primary schools in a 30-minute period before lessons begin.

Unlike the already-existing National School Breakfast Club Programme, which subsidises breakfast clubs in areas of high deprivation, this scheme would be universal.

The pledge applies to England, as education is devolved in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

The commitment covers all state-funded primary schools, including local authority maintained schools, academies and free schools. 

This means around 17,000 schools will be offering free breakfast clubs when the scheme is fully rolled out. 

It is important to note that take-up may vary across schools once the scheme is established.

The Department for Education told us in April 2025 that a timeline for the full national rollout would be confirmed in due course.

What progress has been made?

We are currently rating this pledge as “in progress”.

In April 2025, a pilot programme involving some 750 primary schools across England began, which will test “various approaches” ahead of the national rollout. This was backed by around £30 million in funding for 2025/26, which was announced in the Autumn Budget 2024. The relevant legislation for the scheme is currently progressing through Parliament.

The Budget provided funding for early adopter schools to establish the breakfast clubs, with an initial payment made to local authorities or academies in spring 2025 and a subsequent payment due in November or December 2025.

Labour’s manifesto costed the full scheme at £315 million by 2028/29.

However, some teaching unions have raised concerns that the £30 million in funding for the pilot programme is not sufficient, while the Institute for Fiscal Studies in June 2024 estimated that £315 million may possibly not be enough to fund a full rollout, depending on pupil uptake and the model of breakfast club the government ultimately chooses.

Paul Whiteman, general secretary at school leaders’ union NAHT, told Full Fact: “While we welcome the intentions behind the programme, the initial feedback we are hearing from many school leaders participating in the pilot is that the funding just isn’t sufficient. 

“At a time when school budgets are already stretched, most can ill-afford to subsidise this shortfall.”

But ministers have previously insisted that there will be enough funding to ensure every state-funded primary school gets a free breakfast club.

In February 2025, education minister Baroness Smith of Malvern said the government disagreed that the funding would not be sufficient, adding that it would use the pilot scheme to establish “what resources are necessary” to roll out breakfast clubs nationally.

Further details on funding the scheme will likely be published after the Spending Review, which concludes on 11 June 2025.