Children would be left unsupervised without breakfast clubs, survey shows

Parents also admitted that children would be more likely to start school hungry without breakfast clubs at schools

A child eating a bagel at a breakfast club. (PA)

Around one in six parents have admitted they would leave their child unsupervised if there was not a breakfast club for them to attend before school, a poll suggests.

It also revealed that some children would be more likely to start school hungry if there was not a club available to give them a meal, while some parents say the lack of such a group would mean they would have to stop working.

The findings come in a poll of around 2,000 working parents of children aged four to 16, commissioned by Kellogg's.

The poll reveals that 17 per cent of parents said their children would be left unsupervised for some part of the morning without their breakfast club, while nearly one in 10 admitted their sons and daughters would be less likely to get breakfast.

Around three in 10 said that they or their partner would have to stop working if their child could not attend a breakfast club and 15 per cent said they would not be able to afford alternative childcare for their child in the morning while they were working.

Among families with children aged four to 11 and an income of less than £40,000, almost one in four said that their youngsters would be left alone for part of the morning.

The poll also found that nearly a quarter of working households use pre-school breakfast clubs to drop off primary school children before the bell goes so that they can get to work on time.

It also suggests that working parents who do not have access to a pre-school club have had to take measures such as arranging flexible working hours, taking a pay cut or putting their career on hold.

PA