The Scottish Milk and Healthy Snack Scheme has been set up by the Scottish Government, to provide as many pre-school children attending daycare, with a daily serving of milk and a healthy snack. The aim is to support the development of healthy eating habits for later life.
We are responsible for administering this scheme on behalf of the Scottish Government for any eligible childcare services within the Fife Council area.
Following updated statutory guidance from the Scottish Government in relation to the above scheme, the following processes are now in place to monitor this scheme and calculate payments due for services operating in Fife.
Further information on the Scottish Milk and Healthy Snack Scheme can be found here.
Who is eligible?
This scheme is open to all services registered with the Care Inspectorate, offering pre-school care (childminding and daycare of children).
- Children must attend your service for a session of at least 2 hours for each day claimed.
- Please note: Only one service can claim funding for a child each day so, if the child attends more than one service, parents/carers should agree with the provider which service will claim the entitlement
- Children must not have started Primary School or an equivalent (e.g., home-schooling)
Each child is entitled to 1 portion of milk (or specified alternative) and 1 healthy snack (fruit or vegetables) per day. Payment rates have been set at 58.2p to provide 1 portion of milk and 1 healthy snack per day under the scheme between 19th August 2024 – 17th August 2025.
How do I apply?
New Applications
New claims (those services who have not submitted a previous claim) will be processed within 4 weeks of the initial application being received. Payments are not able to be backdated to previous payment periods so the amount due will be calculated from the initial date of application.
Following an initial payment to cover the current payment period, new applicants will then move on to the process listed below for existing providers.
New applicants should apply using the application form for the Scottish Milk and Healthy Snack Scheme which can be found in the related publications section below.
Existing Members of the Scheme
Payments will be made at the start of the new term and within 4 weeks of the claim form being received. Fife Council will make 4 payments per year under this scheme based on the periods listed below:
- August (covering Term 1 and the October School holidays)
- October (covering Term 2 and the Christmas School Holidays)
- January (covering Term 3 and the Easter School Holidays)
- April (covering Term 4 and the Summer School Holidays)
Providers will be contacted before the start of each period and will be requested to complete and return a claim form which will ask for confirmation of the portions delivered for the previous claim period and an estimate of the portions to be delivered in the new claim period. The payment will then be calculated based on any difference between the estimate and actual from the previous payment period along with the estimate for the next payment period.
How we use your information
The information you provide will be used for the purpose of checking and verifying your childcare settings eligibility for the Scottish Milk and Healthy Snack Scheme, completing the registration process, and transferring funds. Your information will also be used for auditing and reporting purposes.
We are legally obliged to safeguard public funds, so we are required to verify and check your details for fraud prevention. Your information will be shared with the Scottish Government on whose behalf we are administering the Scheme.
We only keep your personal information for the minimum period of time necessary. In this case, the retention period is likely to be seven years but, as this is a new Scheme, we will follow any guidance in relation to how long we keep this information. This privacy notice will be updated accordingly.
Fife Council is the Data Controller for this information. Wherever the Council processes personal data, we need to make sure we have a legal basis for doing so in data protection law. The Council understands our legal basis for processing personal data in relation to the Scheme as Article 6(1)(e) of the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR). This is because administering the Scheme on behalf of the Scottish Government is part of our public task under The Milk and Healthy Snack Scheme (Scotland) Regulations 2021.
Further information can be found on our Data Protection pages.
