Sainsbury’s has announced plans to invest over £1.5m to help tackle food insecurity for children and families across the UK.

The funding is set to support organisations designed to improve access to healthy food for children as the new school year begins.

The supermarket retailer partnered with Comic Relief and two charities, Magic Breakfast and Rethink Food, which will each receive £500,000 to grow their programmes.

Magic Breakfast is set to offer free breakfasts to school children who are in need of support across both primary and secondary schools.

Additionally, the charity will use the funds to support schools in delivering breakfast clubs that meet the needs of their students.

Rethink Food will use the funds to expand its National School Pantry Network, which helps schools in areas of high food insecurity provide meals for children to take home.

Subscribe to Grocery Gazette for free

Sign up here to get the latest grocery and food news each morning

Additionally, the retailer increased its funding for the Department for Education’s free breakfast clubs programme. The £280,000 investment will allow 1,400 new schools to receive £200 Sainsbury’s gift cards for groceries.

The supermarket retailer also pledged £300,000 support for its community grants programme with Neighbourly to improve school kitchens in areas with high food insecurity across the UK.

The programme will help school kitchens to undergo equipment upgrades to increase efficiency and improve initiatives such as free school meal provisions.

Ruth Cranston, director of sustainability at Sainsbury’s, said: “Through our partnerships with Comic Relief and the local charities it supports, the Department for Education, and Neighbourly, we’re helping schools provide more support today while also tackling the longer-term barriers that make it hard for some families to access nutritious food.”