Sainsbury’s has announced an investment of over £1.5 million to help children and families across the UK access nutritious food throughout the school day and at home.

Coinciding with the beginning of the new school year, the funding will support charities addressing food insecurity, the government’s free Breakfast Clubs programme and upgrades to school kitchens.

Through its partnership with Comic Relief, Sainsbury’s is investing £1 million in school-based charities Magic Breakfast and Rethink Food. Each organisation will receive £500,000 to expand its reach, strengthen its impact and help develop long-term solutions to the barriers preventing some families from accessing good, nutritious food.

Magic Breakfast will use the investment to provide free, nutritious breakfasts to children in primary and secondary schools who are most at risk of hunger. The funding will also help schools deliver breakfast clubs in ways that meet the needs of their pupils, increase participation and support learning, wellbeing and long-term outcomes.

Rethink Food will use its £500,000 investment to expand the National School Pantry Network. The initiative helps schools in areas of high deprivation provide families with free access to nutritious food to take home, alongside wider support.

Sainsbury’s has also increased its support for the Department for Education’s free Breakfast Clubs programme. Around 1,400 new schools joining the programme will be eligible to receive a £200 Sainsbury’s gift card, representing an investment of £280,000.

This takes Sainsbury’s total investment in the programme to more than half a million pounds and means over 2,700 schools will have received support since its launch.

A further £300,000 has been allocated through Sainsbury’s ‘Good food for all of us’ community grants programme with Neighbourly to upgrade school kitchens in areas of high deprivation across the UK.

The funding could support improvements including new ovens, fridges and storage. These upgrades are intended to increase the quality, output and efficiency of school kitchens while strengthening initiatives such as Breakfast Clubs and Free School Meals provision.

Ruth Cranston, Director of Sustainability at Sainsbury's, said: “Every child should be able to enjoy nutritious food both throughout the school day and when they get home, but for many families this can be a challenge.

“Through our partnerships with Comic Relief and the local charities it supports, the Department for Education, and Neighbourly, we’re helping schools provide more support today while also tackling the longer-term barriers that make it hard for some families to access nutritious food.”

Since 2021, Sainsbury’s has distributed over £5 million in community grants to more than 2,300 local charities and good causes through Neighbourly. The grants support initiatives addressing food poverty and making good food more accessible to those who need it most.