Fair Milk for
a Fair Start

Currently, free school milk is provided to children under the age of five, but it stops on a child’s fifth birthday – even if they are still in reception. This creates a cliff edge part-way through the school year, where some children in the same classroom continue to receive milk while others suddenly miss out, purely because of when their birthday falls. As a parent, this feels unfair and confusing for young children who are just settling into school.

Reception is a crucial stage in a child’s development. Good nutrition during this year supports learning, concentration, wellbeing and healthy growth, and helps children form positive routines and habits. Ending free milk part-way through the reception year risks removing these benefits at exactly the moment they matter most.

Extending free school milk to all children until the end of the reception year would be a low-cost, practical change with wide-ranging benefits that align closely with the Government’s public health, education and child development priorities. It would give every child a fairer start, support healthier outcomes, help reduce inequalities between pupils, ease unnecessary pressures on schools and teachers, and strengthen local farm incomes and rural and regional economies.

We are asking you to support the Fair Milk for a Fair Start campaign and from MPs to work across Government to extend the free milk subsidy to all children until the end of the reception year, by September 2027 at the latest.