Budget 2024: Parents to receive cost-of-living support as school breakfast club investment 'triples'

Rachel Reeves has unveiled a significant upgrade to childcare as part of Labour's first Autumn Budget since winning the General Election. The Government is set to 'triple' the amount of investment to breakfast clubs in schools, easing a significant cost-of-living pressure that parents face in the UK.

Speaking in the Budget today, she explained: "I am increasing the core schools' budget by £2.3 billion next year to support our pledge to hire thousands more teachers into key subjects. So our young people can develop the skills that they need for the future, I am providing an additional £300 million for further education."

On the need to reform special educational needs provision, she also added: "To support that work, I am today providing a £1 billion uplift in funding, a 6% real-terms increase from this year."

As of June, around 12% of state schools in England already offered a taxpayer-subsidised breakfast club through the National School Breakfast Club Programme, according to the IFS. These schemes not only allow children to be among friends before school, but may relieve parents of further childcare costs too.

A Government explanation from March outlines: "It is important for pupils to start the day with a nutritious breakfast. Evidence shows that providing a healthy school breakfast at the start of the school day can contribute to improved readiness to learn, increased concentration, and improved wellbeing and behaviour.

"All participating schools receive a 75% subsidy for the food and delivery costs of breakfast club provision until the end of July 2025. Schools will contribute 25% of costs. All pupils in participating schools are to be offered breakfast supplies at no cost to them or their parents.

"Schools in disadvantaged areas are eligible for the programme if they have 40% or more pupils in bands A-F of the income deprivation affecting children index (IDACI). This includes state-funded primary, secondary, special schools and alternative provision."

The breakfast club boost comes after the Chancellor previously indicated that 'difficult decisions' in the Budget are necessary to 'restore economic stability' in the UK. This follows allegations that the Conservatives left behind a £22 billion black hole in 'unfunded pressures' that the new Government has now 'inherited'.

As part of this, she also confirmed in the Budget today that taxes are to be raised by £40 billion. "The leadership campaign for the party opposite has now been going on for over three months, but in all that time not one, single apology for what they did to our country – because the Conservative Party has not changed," she said.

"Together, the black hole in our public finances this year, which recurs every year, the compensation payments which they did not fund, and their failure to assess the scale of the challenges facing our public services means this Budget raises taxes by £40 billion. Any chancellor standing here today would face this reality, and any responsible chancellor would take action. That is why today, I am restoring stability to our public finances and rebuilding our public services."