URGENT CALL FOR SCHOOL HOLIDAY SUPPORT TO CONTINUE

Premier Education implores the new government to urgently address the continuation of a school holiday scheme that provides vital support to low-income families.

With the speech set to include plans for Labour’s new Education Bill, one vital issue that isn’t due to be raised is the Holiday Activities and Food (HAF) programme. 

This invaluable scheme, which allows children who are eligible for benefits-related free school meals to attend holiday camps for free, eases the financial burden holidays can bring and ensures children have nutritious meals as well as fun and friendship. It also allows parents to work by providing a safe, secure and enriching childcare provision.

With the cost of living so high, and as a key delivery partner of the HAF scheme, we are concerned that ending the programme next year will have a dire impact on school children.

• Over 2 million pupils were eligible for free school meals in the 2022/23 academic year, compared to 1.89 million in the previous year.
• The demand for food banks is at an all-time high – with 655,000 people using Trussell Trust food banks for the first time last year – a 40% increase from five years ago.

“Without childcare support during school holidays, children from food-insecure families are affected in a number of detrimental ways,” comments our CEO David Batch, “from isolation and poor mental wellbeing to inactivity, poor nutrition and even slow educational attainment.

“The HAF programme has been instrumental in protecting thousands of children from ‘holiday hunger’ and we want to see our new government prioritise the extension of this scheme. Without it – and with many councils unable to fund food vouchers during holiday periods – many low-income families face incredibly tough school holidays. 

“We believe that supporting families with childcare all year round and recognising that the need for childcare doesn’t stop when children go to school, is imperative. We call on the new government to give this issue the attention it deserves and make sure no families find school holidays ‘pain points’”.