Scottish Milk and Healthy Snack Scheme
The Scottish Milk and Healthy Snack Scheme (SMHSS) aims 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.
It is intended that these habits will be taken forward into adolescence and throughout adult life.
Registration/Renewal for the period 1 April to 31 July 2025 is now open. Further guidance can be accessed within the Registration/Renewal process section below.
Eligibility - childcare settings
All Care Inspectorate registered settings, i.e. local authority, private, voluntary, independent (PVI) and childminders may register for the Scheme where they:
- Provide pre-school care to children for two hours or more per day
- Are registered with the Care Inspectorate.
You do not need to be commissioned by East Dunbartonshire Council (EDC) to deliver funded Early Learning and Childcare (ELC) to receive payment under this scheme.
Eligibility - children
Preschool children i.e. aged from birth to starting primary one, who attend regulated childcare settings which have registered with their local authority to be part of the SMHSS, will be eligible to receive the offered benefits.
What will each child be entitled to receive?
The SMHSS will fund a daily portion of milk (or approved non dairy alternative) and healthy snack (fruit or vegetables) for children who spend 2 hours or more in your childcare setting.
- 189 ml of first infant formula for children under 12 months
- 189mls (1/3 pint) - or a 200ml container- of plain fresh cow’s milk (whole milk for children 1 year and over, including the option of semi-skimmed milk for children 2 years and over)
- or, where children cannot consume cow’s milk for medical, ethical or religious reasons, plain fresh goat or sheep milk (whole milk for children 1 year and over or to include semi- skimmed milk for children 2 years)
- Or where children cannot consume cow's milk, goat's milk and sheep's milk for medical, ethical or religious reasons a specified unsweetened calcium-enriched non-dairy alternative
- AND a healthy snack portion (fruit or vegetables) per child per day.
How will it work?
The Scottish Government will provide funding to local authorities to administer and deliver the SMHSS.
All Care Inspectorate registered settings (local authority, private, voluntary, independent (PVI) and childminders) wishing to participate must register with their local authority (in which the setting is located).
Registration/renewal process
Registration/renewal is now open and closes on Wednesday 16 April 2025 for the scheme running from 1 April 2025 to 31 July 2025. All providers currently on the scheme will be contacted by the Council’s SMHSS Admin Team with information on how to apply.
New providers are able to register now to be part of the scheme using the online form below.
Before you begin the registration process, please ensure you have as much information as possible to hand in relation to your setting. The registration process involves answering a number of questions about the specific time period. Please also ensure you have a copy of your setting's Certificate of Registration issued by Social Work Improvement Scotland (Care Inspectorate) ready to attach to the form.
Payment is calculated based on your setting’s average anticipated servings. Whilst there is an example within the application form of how to calculate this information, a spreadsheet has been devised to assist settings calculate this information more easily. You can find the spreadsheet at the end of this page.
Following successful registration, we will contact all childcare settings by email with the next steps that must be taken to allow payment to be made.
The data provided will be used to base the number of servings of milk and snacks your childcare setting would expect to provide within the set period and therefore inform the payment amount.
Your registration form must be completed and returned to us by close of business Wednesday 16 April 2025 to start receiving payment for the period 1 April 2025 to 31 July 2025.
If you have any questions, please contact SMHSSenquiries@eastdunbarton.gov.uk for further guidance.
Monitoring and reporting
If any circumstances change EDC request that they are notified in writing within 4 weeks of the change occurring.
An example could be a change in enrolment levels +/- 10% of the stated enrolment at registration. Childcare settings must inform EDC if circumstances change significantly within 4 weeks of the change occurring.
Where the changes would result in a need for additional funding, the local authority will advise on options for adjusting the payments. The SMHSS is subject to audit therefore you will be required to keep proof of purchases.
Payment amounts
For the period 1st April 2025 - 31st July 2025 the Scottish Government agreed a National Serving Rate of 58.2p per serving
Contact us
If you have any questions about SMHSS you can email SMHSSenquiries@eastdunbarton.gov.uk
For further information about the scheme, please visit the Scottish Government website.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
The SMHSS will fund a daily portion of plain fresh cow’s milk (or specified alternative) and a healthy snack (fruit or vegetables) for pre-school children spending 2 hours or more in the care of a regulated day care provider and/or childminders that have registered for the SMHSS.
Day care settings may apply to East Dunbartonshire Council (EDC) to register for the SMHSS if:
- Registered with the Care Inspectorate
- They provide pre-school care to children for 2 hours or more per day.
No, the Scheme is available to all regulated childcare settings offering pre-school day care, regardless of whether they are in receipt of ELC funding.
No, only children who are aged 0 – pre-school who attend regulated childcare settings which have registered with EDC to be part of SMHSS will be eligible to receive the benefit offered.
No, settings not registered by the Care Inspectorate, will not be eligible to receive the benefit offered.
Local Authorities will deliver and administer the fund on behalf of the Scottish Government.
The Scottish Government agreed a National Serving Rate for the period 1 April 2025 - 31 July 2025 of 58.2p per Serving.
The childcare provider is responsible for procuring and paying for the supply of healthy snacks and dairy milk or non-dairy alternative for those children who cannot consume cow’s milk for medical, ethical or religious reasons.
Children need to attend the setting for 2 hours or more on an individual day.
Children will only receive the benefit offered through the SMHSS once per calendar day regardless how many additional hours they spend in an individual setting.
Where children attend more than one setting in a day, they should only receive the benefit once per calendar day.
It is proposed that the first setting in which child spends 2 hours will provide the milk and healthy snack unless agreed otherwise. Providers and families may wish to agree where it is most appropriate for the SMHSS provision to be given, in line with the approach taken to agreeing meal provision. If a child has already received SMHSS by the time they attend your childcare setting you are not required to provide this again.
Yes, childcare settings should retain proof of purchase i.e. receipts, invoices, contracts in case they should be selected for monitoring by EDC.
The current scheme will run until 31 July 2025 (under Scottish Government review)
No, a childcare setting may not charge parents for the provision funded under the SMHSS. This is separate from any arrangements that a childcare setting may have in place for additional snack provisions which do not form part of the SMHSS guidelines.
No, Settings registering for the SMHSS must offer both milk (or a specified alternative) and a healthy snack to children with the exception of those under the age of 6 months who would not receive solid food. Parents may decide to decline all or part of the offer and in this situation, settings are asked to document this.
No, funding is based on what local authority the childcare setting is registered with and not where the child lives.
Yes, childcare settings are required to opt-in to the SMHSS.
This is because any childcare setting participating in the SMHSS will be obliged to adhere to the regulations, including provision of the benefit and monitoring and reporting obligations.
In the case of chains, registration must be where each individual childcare setting is located.
Work out your anticipated average servings for each day of the week (that your setting operates).
Example for Mondays in August (there are 5).
- 1/8/22 79 Servings (this is the number of Unique Children)
- 8/8/22 79 Servings
- 15/8/22 81 Servings
- 22/8/22 81 Servings
- 29/8/22 82 Servings.
Total all your Servings and divide by the number of (for this example) Mondays in the month eg 79+79+81+81+82= 402 divided by 5 = 80.4 (round to the nearest whole number) to get 80.
Repeat this for the days/months from 1 April 2025 to 31 July 2025 (or from when you register for the scheme).
In your calculation include all days (even if closed for holidays, inset days etc) as we will calculate this for you based on the information on closures you will provide below. This should include your morning/afternoon and all day children.
The example above (ie August Mondays = 80) is shown in the table below. You will need to repeat this process for each day of the week your setting operates over the scheme period 1 April 2025 to 31 July 2025 (or from when you register for the scheme).
| Month | Mon | Tues | Wed | Thur | Fri |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug | 80 | 81 | 80 | 79 | 75 |
| Sept | 85 | 85 | 83 | 84 | 80 |
| Oct | 88 | 88 | 87 | 85 | 81 |
| Nov | 90 | 90 | 91 | 90 | 88 |
| Dec | 92 | 92 | 93 | 90 | 89 |
| Jan | 94 | 94 | 95 | 94 | 91 |
| Feb | 96 | 96 | 95 | 96 | 92 |
| Mar | 100 | 100 | 98 | 96 | 94 |
|
Total |
91 |
91 |
90 | 89 | 86 |
As an example based on the table above, August to March Mondays would be 80+85+88+90+92+94+96+100 = 725 then divide by 8 months (this may vary depending on registration date) = 90.63 (round to the nearest whole number) to get 91. Use your rounded figure to complete the questions below on anticipated average servings for each day.
This ensures that by using the anticipated average servings the payment takes into account the intake throughout the year.
Enter this onto the form for each day your setting operates and the form will calculate your anticipated average servings for a typical week.
You are required to notify the local authority of any significant change (defined as a change +/- 10%) within four weeks of the change.
EDC is aiming to make payments by end of May 2025 (this may change depending on when your Setting registers for the scheme).