Government funding for a programme offering children from low-income families free meals and activities during the school holidays will be extended.
Some £600 million is being invested to extend the Holiday Activities and Food Programme - which funds councils to provide holiday childcare, activities and food for children eligible for free school meals - for another three years.
Although the scheme had been extended to March 2026, it’s future beyond that was left to the government’s spending review, which did not include any details on the funding.
Holiday hunger is a ‘real concern’
The programme - for children from Reception to Year 11 - enables parents to make savings of more than £300 a year, according to the Department for Education.
All local authorities have a legal duty to deliver the programme, with flexibility over how they deliver the provision.
The free holiday clubs aim to provide consistent and easily accessible enrichment activities, involve children and parents in food preparation and use local partnerships and connections.
Paul Whiteman, general secretary of the NAHT school leaders’ union, welcomed the extension. “School leaders are reporting more and more families living in poverty as the cost of living rises, and holiday hunger is a real concern,” he said.
“This scheme is important, and schools have reported a positive impact from the holiday activities and food programme and breakfast clubs that they have run.”
Education secretary Bridget Phillipson is leading a child poverty taskforce, which is due to report on its work this autumn after being delayed.
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