Feeding Britain Campaign

The Holiday Activities and Food (HAF) programme is a vital government-funded initiative that provides free meals, activities, and childcare to low-income children during school holidays, delivering over 15 million days of support since its nationwide rollout. While the charity Feeding Britain welcomes the government’s upcoming expansion of Free School Meals (FSM) to an additional 500,000 children on Universal Credit starting in September 2026, they are deeply concerned by a new decision to exclude these same children from the HAF holiday programme. Feeding Britain argues that it is unjust to acknowledge a child’s need for nutritional support during the school term but deny it during the holidays, warning that breaking the link between FSM and HAF eligibility will cause immense hardship for thousands of struggling working families. To protect these vulnerable children year-round, the charity is calling on the Department for Education to reverse this decision and ensure that any child qualifying for free school meals automatically qualifies for holiday support as well.  Increase the budget because a lot more children will now be eligible, the government needs to give the holiday programme more funding so it has enough space and resources to support everyone who needs it.

We agree that any child who qualifies for Free School Meals during the school year should automatically qualify for the holiday programme, too.

We think this is important; please consider signing the petition too HERE. Read their full briefing document HERE; more information is available on their website

HAF club, South East

“We get around 100 children at our clubs, many of which come from homes that are not eligible for the funding. However the children are often worse off than those on benefits. Parents also have to pay for clubs in the holidays or take a cut on wages to stay home.”