The Department of Health has recently audited a sample of Nursery Milk claims. The audits have revealed that some settings are claiming more than their actual entitlement.
If you are a school or Early Years setting that receives free Nursery Milk via Cool Milk, it is your responsibility to ensure that your orders and claims comply with the rules of the scheme:
- Only children under the age of 5 are entitled to free milk.
- Each child is entitled to one free portion (a third of a pint) of pasteurised cows’ milk for each day that they attend for two hours or more.
- If a child stays all day, they are still only entitled to one portion of free milk – not one in the morning and one in the afternoon.
- If a child is not a milk drinker, you cannot claim for that child.
- If a child is unexpectedly absent for up to 5 days, you can still claim for any milk purchased for that child.
- You must amend your milk orders to reflect the number of individual under-5 children in attendance that actually want milk.
If you have accidentally ordered too much milk, you can only claim for the amount that you are entitled to i.e. no more than one portion per individual under-5 attendee per day. Please ensure that you amend the relevant numbers when you perform your weekly Claim Validation.
Please note that if you claim more than your entitlement, you may be charged for the excess milk and your future participation in the scheme may be jeopardised.
If you have any queries about your Nursery Milk orders or claims, please contact us.
The Nursery Milk scheme is of great benefit to the children in your care, so please help to maintain the integrity of the scheme by keeping your orders up to date and checking your claims very carefully.