What’s so great about breakfast clubs?

If we knew nothing else about the achievements of Keir Starmer’s Labour government, it was its provision of breakfast clubs to the nation’s children. Barely any interview with any Cabinet member, whatever the topic in hand, did not include a boast about breakfast clubs, as though it were the key to solving child poverty and helping families cope with the cost-of-living crisis. So, amidst all the hype, how should we assess the initiative?

In February this year, the government announced these free breakfast clubs in schools across the country, available to 300,000 children, 127,000 of which the government says are ‘from a disadvantaged background’. The plan is to roll out the programme to every primary school in England.

Fans of the programme draw attention to teachers’ testimonies that increasing numbers of kids have been turning up to school with empty stomachs. The scheme is not only helping those in most hardship, some argue. Working parents who don’t have time in the mornings have also praised the ability to drop off children half an hour earlier than school starts in order to get them fed.

On the other hand, some have argued that while breakfast clubs might be a necessary step for some, rolling them out for all families is a waste of resources. Not only that, but some have criticised what is viewed as further state intervention into family life, with schemes like school tooth-brushing running parallel to breakfast clubs. Critics point out that rather than helping parents to do their job – by boosting the economy and freeing up people’s finances and time – the state can sometimes feel more comfortable taking on the role of parent entirely.

There are bigger, more difficult questions behind the roll out of breakfast clubs, like why so many families claim to be incapable of providing the very basics. Is this just an assumption by politicians who underestimate parents? With the shadow of school closures during the Covid era ever present, is encouraging more time in school a good thing? Or is there a danger that these paternalistic roles are overloading teachers and schools with more social work, when they should be focusing on education? Are breakfast clubs a do-gooding fad for politicians, a sign of creeping state paternalism, or simply what’s needed in cash-strapped Britain?