Scottish Milk And Healthy Snack Scheme: Statutory Guidance For Local Authorities And Participating (Registered) Day Care Settings - updated 2025

2. Policy

2.1 The Scheme supports Scottish Ministers intention to improve children’s health and wellbeing, by establishing healthy eating habits, including regular consumption of quality dairy produce or non-dairy alternatives from an early age, as well as consumption of fresh fruit or vegetables. It is intended that these habits will be taken forward into adolescence and throughout adult life.

2.2 This is a universal policy which applies to all pre-school children, who are in receipt of 2 or more hours regulated childcare with a day care provider or childminder registered with the Scheme.

2.3 Payments and provision of milk and healthy snack under the SMHSS began in August 2021. Under the Scheme there is no requirement for settings to provide proof of purchase i.e. receipts, invoices, contracts - although they will be asked to retain these as good record keeping practices, in the event they are selected for monitoring by their local authority. Please see Paragraph 11 ‘Monitoring and Reporting’, below, for more detail on monitoring and reporting.

2.4 The SMHSS will:

• Be delivered by local authorities who have been delegated prescribed Ministerial functions in the Regulations;
• Enable local authorities to provide direct and upfront funding for all pre-school day care providers and childminders which are registered with the Care Inspectorate; where children spend 2 or more hours per day in their care; and where the settings have registered with their local authority to be part of the Scheme.
• Provide funding for:
• where children cannot consume cow’s milk for medical, ethical or religious reasons 189mls (1/3 pint) (or 200mls where supplied in containers of that size only) of plain, fresh, goat or sheep milk should be provided; or
• where children cannot consume cow, goat or sheep milk, for medical, ethical or religious reasons, the provision of 189mls (or 200mls where supplied in containers of that size only) of an unsweetened, fortified, calcium enriched non-dairy alternative drink can be provided; and
• in addition to milk or a specified alternative, a healthy snack item (a serving of fresh fruit or vegetables) for children over six months old.

the provision of 189mls (1/3 pint) (or 200mls where supplied in containers of that size only) of plain fresh cow’s milk (whole milk for children aged 1 year; semi-skimmed can be offered alongside whole for ages 2 and over^[3]), 189mls first infant formula for children under 12 months; or

Full details of what settings registered for the Scheme must provide is set out at Paragraph 16 ‘What must be provided under the Scheme, below

(supplemented by Annexes A and B).

2.5 The milk and healthy snack will be provided to the child by the childcare setting. A setting should not charge parents/carers for the provision funded under the Scheme. This is discrete from any arrangements that may be in place for additional provisions such as the Early Learning and Childcare (ELC) 1140 hours which are not affected by this Scheme.