Zurich UK donates almost 25,000 breakfasts to hungry school children

Zurich UK has already donated almost 25,000 breakfasts this year to children in primary schools across the UK via the charity Magic Breakfast.

The insurer expects to make over 40,000 breakfast donations by the end of the year, providing school children with a healthy breakfast to kick-start their day of learning.

A breakfast in return for a survey

For every SME Transactional Net Promoter Score (TnPS) customer survey completed, the insurer is donating a breakfast, regardless of the feedback sentiment.

Following feedback from our broker community, Magic Breakfast was picked as their charity of choice to support. Brokers cited the support of schools and the local community as the most important causes to them. The charity is one of Zurich’s three national partners, as voted for by Zurich employees in 2023.

The charity was set up to ensure no child or young person is too hungry to learn. They provide over 200,000 nutritious breakfasts to hungry children every day, supporting their health and learning.

In addition, Zurich Municipal is also offering its support to the charity by pledging to donate 133 Magic Breakfasts – feeding a class for a week - every time a charity, club or not for profit organisation buys an online policy and recommends a friend.

Full tummies promote healthy learning

A report into the importance of breakfast for health and education attainment in children written by the British Nutrition Foundation, and commissioned by charity Magic Breakfast, found that up to 30% of school-aged children regularly skip breakfast¹. It’s even higher in teenagers, especially girls, and children from low-income households.

The report concluded that regularly missing out on breakfast increases the risk of children not getting enough key nutrients for effective learning. The study recommended the introduction of free school breakfast provisions to help reduce hunger and narrow the gap in diet inequality.

A further study from the University of Leeds², suggested the clearest effects of introducing a free school breakfast were on mathematics and arithmetic grades in undernourished children.

Breakfast clubs to help bridge the gap

Labour recently pledged free breakfast clubs for every primary school. Announcing plans in the King’s Speech as part of the Children’s Wellbeing Bill, these breakfast clubs could help raise standards in education and promote children’s overall wellbeing.

Currently, schools in England with at least 40% of pupils from income-deprived areas can receive a subsidy covering three-quarters of food and delivery costs under the NSBP (National Schools Breakfast programme)³. Around 12% of state schools in England take part in the scheme, funding for which ends in July 2025.

Nikki Lidster, Zurich UK’s Head of SME Trading comments:

“It’s wonderful to have made such a difference to children in local communities. We have listened to our broker partners and decided on a charity close to both their hearts and ours.

“It’s such a simple thing for them to be able to do. By answering some quick questions about their trading experience with us, no matter the sentiment, we’re able to donate a breakfast. The feedback we receive is pivotal to us improving our SME proposition and it’s a great feeling to know that we are also helping our local communities in the process.

“We hope to continue this partnership and to continue to help provide breakfasts through Magic Breakfast.”

Dr Lindsey MacDonald, CEO of Magic Breakfast comments:

“Our partnership with Zurich continues to go from strength to strength. With 1 in 5 children being at risk of being too hungry to learn, generous grant support from ZCT has helped us tackle the devastating and widespread issue of hunger in the classroom. Our partnership has transformed the lives of more than 7,500 pupils through direct breakfast support, with over 938,000 healthy breakfasts delivered, and positively impacting just over 21,000 children and young people in total. Whilst support of our policy and advocacy work has enabled Magic Breakfast to make significant progress toward ending child morning hunger for good.

“Zurich staff have gone the extra mile by supporting with additional fundraising; as well as collaborating on pro-bono projects, such as the expert costing analysis of a national school breakfast policy, which has been instrumental in unlocking new opportunities to influence leading policy makers. Zurich's 'more than money' approach to partnering has also provided access to a host of training and development opportunities for our staff.

“Our multi-faceted partnership is a leading example of how organisations can collaborate to deliver impact together, so I am delighted to continue to partner. Together we will ensure that no child or young person is too hungry to learn."

Notes to editors

¹ The importance of breakfast for school-aged children (nutrition.org.uk) 2023
² CoTN_Physical-Activity-Nutrition_Report_5.pdf (n8research.org.uk)
³ National school breakfast club programme - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

About Magic Breakfast

Magic Breakfast is a registered charity that exists to make sure no child or young person is too hungry to learn. We provide nutritious breakfasts and expert support to primary, secondary, ASN/SEND schools and pupil referral units in disadvantaged areas of England and Scotland. Providing a daily school breakfast ensures that every child and young person feels included, equal and set up for success. Magic Breakfast works to be part of the solution to end child morning hunger for good through our campaigning, research and advocacy work with politicians and decision-makers.