Breakfast Powers Opportunity: The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill is moving forward but our work isn’t done 

This week the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill completed its stages in the House of Commons, taking it a step closer to becoming law.

When it does become law, it will include a requirement for free school breakfast clubs in every primary school in England. This will be a fantastic start towards ending child morning hunger. But while we can celebrate this progress, we can’t afford to stop now.  

While this bill will help many primary-aged children, it is far from perfect – and that means too many children will continue to be at risk of starting their day too hungry to learn.  

Why the bill falls short

In its current form, the bill: 

• Won’t reach pupils of all ages in all-through specialist SEND schools, where primary- and secondary-aged pupils often learn side by side.  

• Doesn’t do enough to allow schools to use different, proven ways to provide breakfast. Schools should be able to offer breakfast in different ways, like traditional breakfast clubs, playground ‘grab and go’, or in classroom, all of which have positive impact and make sure no child misses out.  

• Doesn’t require any monitoring of how well school breakfast provision is working. Without this, we won’t know if it’s really tackling the issue of hunger. There’s also no guarantee that schools will get expert advice and support to run these programmes effectively.   

Emma Lewell-Buck MP, supported by colleagues and advocates like you, put forward 9 amendments that would have strengthened the bill, and although they did not pass, they were debated in parliament and so are still high on the political agenda.  

We’ve seen headteachers and school leaders in the media warning that while this bill is a step forward, it’s not enough. And they’re right. This week showed that while there is support for strengthening the bill from MPs, there is still a lot of work to be done.  

What’s next? 

With almost 1 in 5 children starting their school day too hungry to learn, we’re not ready to call time on influencing the bill – and there is still time to get it right.  

The bill now moves quite literally down the corridors of power from the House of Commons to the House of Lords. We will follow it every step of the way to keep the pressure on. We need to continue to show the government that the public cares deeply about this issue.  

Ready to take action?  

Join our campaign today and help us make this bill as strong as it needs to be. Together, we can make sure that every child in England gets the best possible start to their day.