9 July 2021

Magic Breakfast notes that the Department for Education has today announced that they have awarded a new contract to supply breakfasts to at least 2,500 schools in England between September 2021 and July 2023 to Family Action.

“With food insecurity at an all-time high, it's never been more vital to reach children most at risk hunger with a healthy breakfast each morning. A hungry child cannot learn, so it's crucial that this new programme, announced today by the DfE and Family Action, keeps reaching children at risk of hunger at its core.

 "Magic Breakfast did not bid for this funding because we did not believe the terms of the contract would allow us to meet our charitable mission – to ensure no child is too hungry to learn.  We look forward to scrutinising the contract between DfE and Family Action when it is published.

"We sincerely hope that the contract includes measures to ensure breakfast provision to children is hunger-focused, healthy, barrier free and stigma free. We hope DfE will communicate an expectation to schools to fully address morning classroom hunger to ensure that no child in schools signing up to the new DfE contract misses out on their education through hunger at the start of the day. Schools will need tailored support to understand and address hunger; and a system of monitoring and accountability.

“Magic Breakfast will continue to campaign for a long-term, government-funded solution to the issue of child morning hunger as a barrier to learning.”

- Alysa Remtulla, Head of Policy & Campaigns at Magic Breakfast