Charity writes to Rachel Reeves ahead of the Budget to make the case for a long-term commitment
Brakes charity Meals & More has called on the new government to do more to support the social and nutritional needs of children when schools are closed.
In a letter to the Chancellor ahead of the Budget, the charity – which supports children in food povery over the school holidays with free meals – highlighted the need to extend the Holidays Activities and Food Programme (HAF) past its initial three-year term and ensure that any future funding is linked to inflation.
Meals & More also wants to see the programme extended to cover all children in food poverty, not just those receiving free school meals.
Despite growing recognition of holiday hunger leading to the introduction of the HAF in October 2021, charities say there are still challenges that mean millions of children are going hungry. With no commitment to continue this programme after the initial three-year funding expires, many children face an uncertain future, Meals & More stressed.
Operations director Peter McGrath said: “The introduction of the HAF programme was a major milestone in helping to address holiday hunger. However, there has been no commitment to continue the programme after its initial term.
”Coupled with that, inflation has already significantly eroded the £200m that the previous government invested in the programme, making it woefully inadequate in dealing with the problem.”
Paul Nieduszynski, chief executive of Sysco GB, added: “Since we first launched Meals & More in 2015, the journey has been incredible moving holiday hunger from an unnoticed issue to a government issue. However, the challenge remains and there are some four million children facing food poverty.
“Last year, we committed our support to Meals & More for another five years and we hope that the government will see how much this support is needed and make a similar commitment for its HAF programme.”
