Early Years Food Coalition – eib test

Teacher explaining fruits to students in classroom

About the coalition

The Early Years Food Coalition (EYFC) is a cross-sector advocacy group working to improve food and nutrition in early years settings. Convened and coordinated by Bremner & Co, and funded by Impact on Urban Health, the coalition’s focus spans two closely linked areas; supporting collective advocacy and strengthening the evidence base that underpins it.

Membership

Members include NGOs, academics, local authorities, early education providers, and campaigners; a full list of members is available below. Since its formation, the group has created space for these diverse organisations to connect, share insight, and take coordinated action on a set of longstanding challenges, including outdated and insufficient nutrition guidance, a lack of consistent evidence and limited national political leadership.

How we convene

The coalition brings together organisations with different perspectives to strengthen evidence and shape shared policy goals. Participation enables members to test ideas, learn from one another, and apply insights in their own work. What makes it effective is the way members show up with trust, curiosity, and a shared commitment to doing better together. The result is a stronger, more confident voice for change across the early years sector.

Our vision

Regardless of where they live, every child deserves the best start in life and access to healthy, delicious, and sustainable food in childcare and early education is central to that goal. The first 1,000 days are critical for long-term health, but not all children have equal access to nutritious food.

To protect the health of all children, we need supportive food environments built on practical and appropriate nutrition standards, effective monitoring, and crucially training for early years staff. Nutrition in the early years is one of the most effective ways to reduce health inequalities and avoid poorer outcomes later in life, when support becomes more complex and costly. A positive early years food culture helps children develop healthy habits, supports working families, and ensures all children start reception ready to learn, grow, and thrive.

With the collective dedication of educators, policymakers, advocates, and families, we can establish early years nutrition as a lasting foundation for the health, equity, and opportunities of every child.

Policy asks

Extend free early years meals to all children in households on Universal Credit, regardless of setting type, and implement automatic registration so no child is left behind.
Support adherence to the new nutrition guidance and the Early Years Foundation Stage safeguarding & welfare requirement in all early years settings, by delivering funded and targeted staff training and resources.
Introduce a standardised national system for monitoring food provision in early years settings to ensure compliance with nutrition standards, drive continuous improvement and reduce disparities in provision.
Ensure that food provision is a core focus of the Department for Education’s 2026 early years funding review, with investment targeted towards settings serving low-income families and children with higher levels of additional need, so that all provision can meet national nutritional standards.
Explicitly include food in early education and childcare into the ministerial responsibilities of the Early Years minister.
Regulate the composition, labelling and marketing of commercial baby and toddler foods to curb commercial influence on food provision in early years settings, creating healthier food environments for young children.