Guidance

School Milk Scheme Strategy

Updated 31 October 2024

Applies to England, Northern Ireland and Wales

Enquiries regarding the School Milk Scheme Strategy should be sent to the following email addresses in respect of the relevant part of the UK to which they relate.

Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs

England: defra.helpline@defra.gov.uk

Welsh Government (Llywodraeth Cymru)

Wales: FoodInSchools@gov.wales
BwydMewnYsgolion@gov.wales

Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs

Northern Ireland: SchoolMilkScheme@daera-ni.gov.uk

August 2021

In accordance with Article 23(8) of Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013^{[footnote 1]}.

Scope of the scheme

1) Policy on school milk is devolved. The scheme will support milk distribution to children of school age in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Participation in the scheme is optional for individual schools. The Rural Payments Agency (RPA) administers the Scheme in England and Wales. The Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA) operates the Scheme in Northern Ireland.

Scheme objectives

2) To support the consumption of dairy products by children from an early age in order to promote healthy eating habits and good nutritional health, supporting efforts to tackle child obesity by part subsidising, or reimbursing in full where relevant, the cost of a daily portion of dairy in line with national guidance.

Indicators

3) Consistent demand for aid among the target groups in line with recent consumption trends, demonstrating the continued contribution of the scheme to promoting good nutritional habits in successive years of schoolchildren.

4) Data for the 2014-15 school year will be used as a baseline against which to assess the scheme broken down as follows:

(a) the total number of primary schools (including special schools)

(b) the total number of pupils in the schools at (a) above

(c) the total number of schools at (a) above participating in the scheme

(d) the total number of pupils in the schools at (c) above

(e) the total number of pupils in the schools at (c) above participating in the scheme

(f) the total quantity of milk claimed

5) Annual statistics will be compiled to support an assessment of the effectiveness of the scheme on the basis of participation rates, and to inform future policy. Data will be published online following the end of the school year.

Estimated annual expenditure

6) £6.8m UK wide – estimated using combined data for 2018-2019 for Defra and each devolved administration. Note: This included Scotland who were part of the scheme.

Target groups

7) The scheme targets the following groups:

• Pre-primary and primary schools (children aged 3 to 11 years but not where milk has been fully reimbursed under the national Nursery Milk Schemes).
• Special schools for children with special educational needs, including learning disabilities or physical disabilities - for ages 4 to 18 years in England and Northern Ireland and for ages 3-11 in Wales.
• Secondary schools in England and Northern Ireland (excludes Wales) - children aged 11 to 18 years.

List of eligible products

8) The following products produced from cows, goats and sheep are eligible:

• whole or semi-skimmed heat-treated milk

• Whole or semi-skimmed heat-treated flavoured milk, containing at least 90% by weight of milk and the maximum percentage of added sugar and/or honey in accordance with relevant national nutritional standards for school food and drinks (only the milk element is eligible for aid).

• whole or semi-skimmed plain yoghurt (excludes Wales)
• lactose free or lactose reduced milk
• UHT milk

Eligible costs and arrangements for implementation

9) In England and Northern Ireland part of the cost of the milk or milk products will be subsidised. In Wales for ages 5 to 7 years old (Foundation Phase), milk is provided free of charge. The full cost of milk for this age group will be reimbursed in Wales. Part subsidised milk is available in participating schools to children in Key Stage 2 in Wales.

10) Where products are part subsidised, to ensure that aid is accurately reflected in the price, charges to beneficiaries will be capped as follows: purchase price (excluding any discount, delivery charges, supplier overheads, or other incidentals); less subsidy; plus up to 8 pence per portion to cover administration and distribution costs. Aid payable per portion is £167.228 per kilolitre for milk and yoghurt. An additional top-up amount of £39.855 per kilolitre will be payable for primary school children.

Educational measures

11) Nutrition and diet education are an integral part of national curricula. This includes:

• understanding and applying the principles of a healthy and varied diet
• the origin of food
• understanding seasonality
• knowing where and how ingredients are grown, reared, caught and processed
• recognising the impact of diet on the body
• the importance of nutrition

A range of independent educational packages support schools to deliver the curricula.

Schools continue to have discretion in delivery, including the resources they use. These measures could include, for example, the continuing use of posters (tailored to the respective part of the UK) at distribution points for milk, such as classrooms or dining areas. These resources can include information for primary school children about the dairy industry and the contribution that dairy products can make to their health.

Selection of suppliers

12) Claimants must be approved by the RPA or DAERA in advance. As a condition of approval, claimants must certify that they will comply with the scheme rules. Claims are also subject to on-the-spot checks before payment if they exceed £1,000, or where errors are identified from administrative checks. The following types of organisation may be eligible to be claimants:

• an individual education authority, in respect of products distributed in schools in its area
• an individual school
• a supplier to a school or education authority; or
• an organisation set up specifically for the purpose of supplying milk or milk products under the scheme.

13) Schools that are not separately approved as a claimant must work with another supplier or local education authority to obtain their milk and to collect the aid. Schools that are separately approved as a claimant may make their own arrangements for obtaining milk.

Involvement of other relevant authorities

14) Defra and the devolved governments continue to work closely together on school milk policy. Defra engages closely with the Department of Health and Social Care and the Department for Education in respect of the arrangements in England. Similarly, the devolved governments in Wales and Northern Ireland work closely with health and education counterparts on arrangements in Wales and Northern Ireland.

Information and publicity

15) All participating schools are required to display a poster prominently at the school entrance, indicating that they are providing dairy products part subsidised or fully reimbursed by the scheme as appropriate.

1. As amended by Regulation 13(g) of The Common Organisation of the Markets in Agricultural Products Framework (Miscellaneous Amendments, etc.) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019 (SI No 2019/821). ↩