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 National School Breakfast Club Programme, which subsidised breakfast clubs in areas of high deprivation between March 2018 and July 2026, 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 offer free breakfast clubs when the scheme is fully rolled out, though it’s worth noting that take-up may vary across schools once the scheme is established.

What progress has been made?

We are currently rating this pledge as “in progress”, as the national rollout is now underway and around 2,800 schools are delivering breakfast clubs. In April 2025, a pilot programme involving 750 primary schools began, with more schools taking part throughout the 2025/26 academic year.

The 2026/27 academic year marked the first full year of the national rollout. As of September 2026, 2,797 schools were listed as taking part in the programme.

The government has said it will “onboard even more schools in 2027 and 2028”, though it has not confirmed an exact number.

The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Act received Royal Assent on 29 April 2026. This legislation contains a provision that mandates all primary state school pupils are provided with access to a free breakfast club lasting for at least 30 minutes and including food. However, the core duty of this provision is not yet in force.

The education secretary has the power to grant an exemption to schools, but an application must be made for this.

The Department for Education (DfE) has said the rollouts during the 2026/27 financial year are being “supported by £80 million investment”, after “over £30 million” of funding in 2025/26, and that it is providing “over £10 million of funding, across local authorities” to, among other things, enable local authorities to support schools with their breakfast club rollouts.

Labour’s manifesto estimated the scheme would cost £315 million by 2028/29.

The government’s Spending Review, published in June 2025, stated the “learning” from the pilot scheme would be used to “confirm details of national rollout in due course”.