As the Bremner & Co team sign off for 2025, we have been reflecting on what has been a genuinely significant year for food policy and practice. Across children’s nutrition and the wider food system, we have seen meaningful progress, not only in policy change, but in the growing momentum behind a fairer, healthier approach to food that can deliver lasting impact.
As ever, we have been privileged to work alongside inspiring organisations across NGOs, local and national government, academia and more, supporting the translation of evidence into policy, strengthening collaboration, and building the case for change across the system.
Here are the 10 standout moments from 2025 that we’re celebrating:
1. Free school meals expansion through Universal Credit
A long-awaited and hard campaigned-for breakthrough! Government confirmed in June that all children in households receiving Universal Credit will become entitled to free school meals. This change could ease pressure on household budgets and improve nutrition for hundreds of thousands of children living in relative poverty. The many campaigners and policymakers involved should be proud of this important step forward.
With implementation coming next September, the focus for the sector now shifts to ensuring every eligible child can access their entitlement, and that schools and caterers have the funding and infrastructure to deliver brilliantly. Currently, around 11% of eligible children are not registered to take up their free school meals, making the push for auto-enrolment and stronger school infrastructure even more important. The year ahead will show how this commitment translates into real access for the children who need it most.
2. Local authorities leading the way on auto-enrolment
Councils continued their pioneering work this year, with more successfully implementing auto-enrolment schemes that ensure children get the meals they’re entitled to. We were thrilled to support Devon County Council as they became the first two-tier authority to implement auto-enrolment, showing what’s possible when local leaders step up.
The expansion of FSM entitlement makes this work even more urgent. Government departments have signalled interest and are taking early action to help local authorities implement schemes with more ease and success. With a growing number of councils now proving the case for change, next year will bring a continued push for national commitment. For more on the advocacy efforts, listen to Myles on the Food Active podcast here.
3. Child Poverty Strategy with food front and centre
The government set out its Child Poverty Strategy and an associated action plan to lift hundreds of thousands of children out of poverty, which includes investment in breakfast clubs, family hubs and the expansion of FSM through Universal Credit. Food was clearly on the agenda.
This aligns with findings from the Hungry for Change report, which reinforces the need for a systemic response to structural inequality in children’s nutrition across the life course. The coming year offers exciting opportunities to build on this foundation, particularly around early years nutrition and ensuring every child can access their entitlements.
4. Evidence and curriculum review align on importance of food education
The Food Education Mapping Project from Best Food Forward highlighted how uneven food education remains in secondary schools, with wide variation in what young people learn and experience. This evidence sits alongside the Curriculum and Assessment Review, which reinforced the need for clearer expectations and stronger progression in food and nutrition. In response, the Food Education Network launched with more than thirty organisations committed to improving food education from early years through secondary.
For the first time, evidence, curriculum attention and sector collaboration are pulling in the same direction. The exciting task for 2026 is to turn that alignment into delivery, embedding meaningful food education in every school and securing the policy changes needed to make it a consistent part of children’s learning.
5. A new government food strategy for England
July brought England’s new food strategy, setting out a high-level vision for a healthier, more affordable, sustainable and resilient food system. After years of piecemeal action, this is a meaningful attempt to create a more joined-up national approach to food policy.
The strategy confirms that school food remains a priority area, with commitments linked to nutrition, standards and a more consistent offer for children. The real opportunity now is ensuring coherence across commitments, connecting this strategy with child poverty goals, food education improvements, and strategic funding that drives better nutrition outcomes for children in practice.
6. School Food Standards review launched
The School Food Standards came back into focus this year, with government confirming a long-awaited review of requirements. Updating these standards so they are fit-for-purpose is hugely important, as they shape what schools prioritise, what caterers can afford to provide, and what children see and choose across the school day. This review creates real space to address long-standing weaknesses, from inconsistent monitoring to unclear expectations beyond lunch.
The prominence of ‘grab and go’ food is one example of why this matters, and our current work with Bite Back exploring young people’s experiences aims to bring their voices into the conversation and ensure they help shape the outcome. Handled well, this review is a genuine opportunity to strengthen standards in a way that meets the needs of the sector, schools and pupils, and helps more children access healthy, delicious food every day.
7. Free school meals recognised as an economic opportunity
New evidence this year shifted the conversation about free school meals. Our work on Follow the Carrot, carried out with Sustain and supported by the Ampney Brook Foundation, showed how expanding free school meals could strengthen British farming by increasing demand for fresh home grown produce. The School Food Review group also published the updated Superpowers of Free School Meals evidence pack, which brought together the wider health, education and economic returns of expansion and reflected input from organisations across the sector, including our own.
Taken together, these reports helped position FSM expansion as a policy with benefits that reach far beyond individual households. A stronger economic case invites more joined-up thinking across health, farming and economic policy. The next year will show whether government is ready to back that ambition with the funding, investment and system support needed to make it real.
8. Early years nutrition in the spotlight
Early years nutrition finally started to receive more of the attention it deserves. The Best Start in Life Strategy set out a clearer ambition for early development, although it left important questions about how nutrition in early years settings will be supported. Our Too Young to Count research revealed how the current system leaves most disadvantaged under-fives without access to a free daily meal. The picture was clear: children’s nutrition in the years that matter most needs support through funding, data, and delivery.
With the recent announcement of a record £9.5 billion investment in early years, 2026 needs to bring decisions that match the ambition of Best Start in Life with practical support for the settings responsible for feeding our youngest children. For more on this, listen to Dayna speak on the Food Foundation’s podcast on the importance of nutrition in early years settings here.
9. Government launches new Early Years Foundation Stage nutrition guidance
The publication of the EYFS Nutrition Guidance in April gave the sector long needed clarity on what good food provision in early years settings should look like. Members of the Early Years Food Coalition (EYFC) were instrumental in turning the guidance into something usable, sharing resources, testing approaches and showing through programmes like Nourishing Our Future how it can be put into practice.
After years of inconsistency, the sector finally has a shared reference to work with. The work ahead is about supporting adherence, which we’ll be advocating for alongside members of the EYFC in our engagement with policymakers and across the sector.
10. Commercial baby food industry facing overdue scrutiny
This was the year the commercial baby food industry came under sustained and necessary scrutiny. The Commercial Baby Foods in Crisis report, BBC Panorama feature and sustained advocacy exposed misleading claims and highlighted how voluntary guidelines continue to fall short.
Government responded with new voluntary guidelines intended to improve labelling, reduce misleading practices and raise the quality of products available to families. It’s a welcome step that recognises the problems in the current market. But perhaps most striking has been the market response itself: data from the end of the year showed real impacts on the share value of some brands with the worst offending products, as parent trust responded to clearer information.
This demonstrates what impact looks like when research and advocacy work together over the long-term. The resulting policy approach for now is voluntary action and clearer expectations based on existing rules. The task for 2026 will be to track whether these voluntary measures make meaningful difference and to set out clearly what further action should follow if they do not.
There is brilliant momentum to build on. We’re grateful to every partner, campaigner and policymaker who made 2025 such a landmark year, and we’re excited to take this work forward together in 2026!