The government is looking for businesses to sponsor its flagship free breakfast club scheme and support schools 鈥渕ake a greater impact鈥, with chosen partners getting 鈥減romotional rights鈥 in return. The free breakfast clubs are being piloted in across England. However聽nearly 80 “early adopters” dropped out聽before the start of the trial amid concerns a lack of funding could leave them out of pocket. Government is now considering offers from food providers to enable participating schools to 鈥渕aximise the value of their food spending through deals鈥 and ensure securing meals is as 鈥渆asy, reliable and flexible as possible鈥, tender documents show. But unions have warned a sponsor 鈥渟hould not be relied upon to make the government鈥檚 programme work鈥, and a food campaign group said free breakfast 鈥渟hould be provided in a way that protects children from commercial marketing and promotion鈥. ‘Additional benefits’ for breakfast clubs The open call, which closes on August 18, stated: 鈥淲e believe additional benefits can be delivered from working closely with partner organisations to support schools in enhancing their free breakfast club delivery. 鈥淭here are many successful corporate and industry partnerships already occurring at local level, and the [Department for Education] seeks to build on this existing good practice by harnessing and coordinating to ensure equitable access at a national level.鈥 DfE specified the partnership would be with a 鈥渇ood provider鈥 and run across the 2025-26 academic year. Documents said the sponsor would ensure products comply with food standards, order mechanisms are straightforward, deliveries are reliable, and schools have choice and flexibility of what, when and how they buy products. In exchange, the sponsor would get a “package of promotional rights” including being named in DfE communications upon announcement of the partnership and in all communications with participating schools. Each breakfast club contract would be between the sponsor and school, and the DfE would have 鈥渘o liability鈥 to the sponsor for the performance, the draft contract said. The contract would commence on September 15 and end on July 31, 2026. But the DfE has said it is not confirmed the national rollout of the scheme will take place next September. ‘Alarm’ over brands in schools However Barbara Crowther from Sustain, an alliance of organisations for healthy food and farming, said she is 鈥渁larmed鈥 over the plans. Free breakfasts 鈥渟hould be provided in a way that protects children from commercial marketing and promotion鈥, she added. 鈥淲hilst individual products offered will be required to meet the School Food Standards, we鈥檙e alarmed this approach will still open up a promotion route for brand owners who also sell a wider range of ultra-processed, or sugar and calorific foods,鈥 Crowther added. Barbara Crowther 鈥淧romotion rights being offered to these companies effectively enable them to use government-backed breakfast clubs for brand advertising to schools鈥. The campaigner added that larger companies would have a market advantage over local businesses already in supply deals with schools 鈥 and argued the government should be looking at 鈥渃ulturally appropriate, local and independent solutions鈥 that support 鈥渢he whole school community鈥. But a DfE spokesperson said: 鈥淎s we build on the strengths of the scheme, business partnerships will help schools buy British and make their clubs more enriching than ever, driving growth for local communities and even better outcomes for children.鈥 Sponsors ‘should not be relied upon’ Some 79 early adopter schools pulled out of the programme in April over funding concerns 鈥 with some even claiming they would lose money by replacing current schemes with the new one. All the schools were replaced, but there are wider concerns about the financial impact on schools of the national rollout. Pepe Dilasio Pepe Di鈥檒asio, general secretary of school leaders’ union ASCL, said 鈥渋f the partnership results in schools being better equipped to provide breakfast clubs then obviously that is something we would welcome鈥. But he added: 鈥淲e are concerned that the current level of funding for the scheme is insufficient and could lead to schools having to subsidise provision themselves. This is an issue that needs to be fixed, one way or another, before the wider rollout occurs.鈥 National Association of Headteachers general secretary Paul Whiteman agreed that partnerships 鈥渕ay have potential to enhance鈥 breakfast clubs but they 鈥渟hould not be relied upon to make the government鈥檚 programme work鈥. Paul Whiteman 鈥淭he government must also ensure its core scheme is fully funded and that it addresses the issues school leaders, especially those at primary schools, have identified as concerns before it is rolled out further,鈥 Whiteman said, “…[including] workload and the impact on existing wrap-around provision.鈥 The DfE said further details on national rollout will be shared in due course.