750 schools across the country will be offered £200 gift cards from the retailer as part of the government’s free breakfast club programme
Initiative is expected to benefit up to 180,000 school children across the UK at a time when many young people are reported to be skipping breakfast and arriving at school hungry
Partnership with the Department for Education builds on the retailer’s long heritage of ensuring that everyone, no matter their background or circumstance, can access the joy that good food brings
Thursday 23rd October: Sainsbury’s has partnered with the Department for Education (DfE) on their free breakfast club programme, offering early adopter schools a £200 gift card to support healthy, nutritious breakfast provision.
Up to 180,000 school children across the UK are set to benefit from the initiative which will see 750 early adopter schools provided with access to gift cards from the retailer to help them take their free breakfast club offer further - increasing their funding for healthy, affordable and nutritious food.
Sainsbury’s partnership with the Department for Education comes at a time when many students are arriving at school without having had a healthy, balanced breakfast to help fuel their day. Up to 30% of children skip breakfast regularly, coming to school on an empty stomach 1, whilst 20% of teachers have reported that the number of children who are too hungry to learn has increased 2.
Simon Roberts, CEO of Sainsbury’s commented "Every child deserves access to affordable and nutritious food to help them thrive, but we know far too many arrive at school without a balanced breakfast to fuel their day. That’s why we are proud to be partnering with the Department for Education on their free breakfast clubs, offering the early adopter schools £200 vouchers to support healthy breakfast provision. We’re committed, at Sainsbury’s, to continuing to play our part in addressing this challenge until we’re confident that everyone across the country has access to joyful, affordable food every day."
Sainsbury’s partnership with the Department for Education builds on the retailer’s long heritage of ensuring that everyone, no matter their background or circumstance, can access the joy that good food brings. The retailer’s long-standing commitment to this also includes decades of partnership with charities such as Comic Relief, which has delivered 48 million meals since 2022 to those experiencing food poverty in communities across the UK.
Eligible schools will be contacted directly by Sainsbury’s over the coming days with details of how to activate their gift cards. These can then be used to buy a choice of healthy, nutritious breakfast foods such as porridge, fruit and high-fibre wholegrain breads.
[1] Barnardo’s Nourishing the Future Report, March 2025
[2] School Food Matters, March 2025
About Sainsbury’s
Offering delicious great quality food at competitive prices has been at the heart of what we do since John James and Mary Ann Sainsbury opened our first store in 1869. Today, inspiring and delighting our customers with tasty food remains our priority and our purpose is clear – we make good food joyful, accessible and affordable for everyone, every day.
Our focus on great value food and convenient shopping, whether in-store or online is supported by our brands – Argos, Nectar, Tu Clothing, Habitat, Sainsbury’s Bank and Smart Charge. Sainsbury’s has almost 600 supermarkets and over 800 convenience stores. Argos is a leading digital retailer and is the third most visited retail website in the UK, with over 70 per cent of its sales starting online. Argos is conveniently available for customers to collect from hundreds of Sainsbury’s stores. Digital and technology enables us to adapt as customers shop differently and our profitable, fast-growing online channels offer customers quick and convenient delivery and collection capability.