Labour launch Breakfast Club for every child.

The heartbreaking news that children are going to school hungry or with empty lunch boxes has prompted Labour to launch a breakfast club for every child.

The cost of living crisis has made its impact on many households in London, including Havering. Today, Dagenham and Rainham MP Jon Cruddas writes in the Havering Daily.

Labour has announced plans to roll out breakfast clubs to every primary school in England, providing access to fully-funded childcare and a healthy meal for every child. Currently 52,4385 primary school pupils in Greater London have limited access to breakfast clubs, according to the Party’s analysis. 

74% of primary schools in Greater London have “barriers” to disadvantaged children and young people accessing provision. Figures from Magic Breakfast show that, nationally, 3,021 primary schools, 18% of the total, do not offer breakfast clubs, leaving 838,000 primary school children with no access to breakfast clubs equivalent to nearly 28,000 classes of 30. Among schools that do offer a breakfast club 55% of schools in England had barriers to access. 

Jon Cruddas, the Labour MP for Dagenham and Rainham told the Havering Daily: “That so many children do not have full access to crucial before-school childcare deals a damaging blow to families in areas like Dagenham and Rainham. The evidence is clear: breakfast clubs raise standards of learning for children, give parents choices and will help us build the economy of the future. This policy will be a gamechanger for working families in my constituency and will set us on the road to a functional system of childcare.”

The Shadow Education Secretary said Labour’s plan will enable parents to work as well as strengthening children’s development, driving up standards in reading, writing and maths, contrasting this with the Conservatives’ failure to close the education attainment gap and support parents with young children to continue working the jobs and hours they choose. 

The “landmark” new approach to childcare will be funded by money raised from abolishing non-dom tax status for the global super rich. The party says that, under its plans, families could save over £60 a week compared to other forms of before school childcare, amid the cost-of-living crisis.