Labour’s pledge to fund free breakfast clubs in every primary school risks creating “mission creep” for staff and leaders, the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) has warned.
The IFS said that breakfast clubs can be a cheap way to provide nutritional support to children and have been shown to boost grades.
But it warns that Labour’s pledge is part of a set of measures that “may present additional challenges for schools already struggling with pay, workload and recruitment pressures”.
The pledge is also “unlikely to deliver” on ambitions to tackle “alarming rates of school absences post-pandemic”, the IFS said in a briefing published today.
Pupil absence has soared since the pandemic, with the government investing in attendance hubs and mentors to buck the trend.
Breakfast clubs ‘unlikely’ to cut absence
Labour had previously claimed that the rollout of fully funded breakfast clubs to all primary schools in England could cut almost half a million days of school absence.
However, the IFS has said that the policy is “unlikely” to tackle high absence rates.
The IFS analysis says: “Labour’s proposed breakfast clubs are part of a set of measures that would involve channelling support for children and families through schools.
“This kind of mission creep may present additional challenges for schools already struggling with pay, workload and recruitment pressures for teachers and teaching assistants - and with little in the way of guaranteed increases to core funding to help them cope.”
Today, Elaine Drayton, research economist at the IFS, said that the breakfast club policy was “low cost” and could “boost children’s nutrition and attainment”.
However, she said: “Commensurate with the low price tag, [breakfast clubs] are unlikely to deliver on Labour’s grander ambitions of making a meaningful positive difference to families’ budgets and tackling alarming rates of school absences post-pandemic.”
Currently, schools with at least 40 per cent of pupils from areas of deprivation can receive a subsidy covering three-quarters of food and delivery costs under the National School Breakfast Club Programme (NSBP).
The IFS said an expansion of the provision to all schools could benefit disadvantaged children in particular in schools falling below the threshold for NSBP support.
Labour’s manifesto committed to spending £315 million on breakfast clubs in 2028-29, which the IFS said could be enough to fund all primary school pupils under a food-only model.
Last year, Sir Keir Starmer also said a Labour government would introduce supervised toothbrushing in schools.
Labour has also pledged to hire 6,500 new expert teachers and scrap single-word Ofsted grades if it forms the next government.
Labour has been contacted for comment.
What are the three main parties’ education policies? Find out here.
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