Parents can get free school meals for kids during summer holidays - but must act now
Parents are being urged to snap up free school meals for their kids during the summer holidays, but they need to act swiftly and apply now.
The Holiday Activities and Food (HAF) programme is a lifeline offering nutritious meals, engaging activities, and complimentary childcare spots for children from less affluent backgrounds, aiding their health, wellbeing, and education.
BBC and ITV personality Martin Lewis, the Money Saving Expert, has sounded the alarm for parents to sign up for the initiative before time runs out. He cautioned that HAF isn't automatic and eligibility doesn't roll over, even if families have received assistance in past school breaks.
Kids from poorer families often miss out on structured out-of-school activities and are more prone to 'unhealthy holidays' impacting their diet, physical health, and risk of social isolation.
The HAF scheme aims to tackle these challenges, reports Birmingham Live. A recent report highlighted: "It is encouraging to see increasing recognition that childcare is essential for facilitating parental workplace participation, with the continued expansion of funded childcare in early years, support to develop wraparound childcare before and after school, and the introduction of free breakfast clubs.
"There is no longer an assumption that parents and employers are able to fit their work around the school day, or an expectation that they will do so. However, outside of school term time, the situation is very different.
"Holiday childcare remains the unspoken outlier of childcare policy and the gap that parents must bridge every school holiday."
Lydia Hodges, head of Coram Family and Childcare, said: "The need for childcare doesn't finish at the end of term.
"Holiday childcare not only helps parents to work but gives children the chance to have fun, make friends and stay active during the school breaks. Yet all too often it is missing from childcare conversations.
"Whilst the increase in government-funded early education has reduced childcare costs for working parents of under-fives in England, prices for holiday childcare are going up for school-age children.
"This risks encouraging parents to work while their children are young, only to find it is not sustainable once their child starts school.
"Availability of holiday childcare is an ongoing issue and without a clear picture of how much holiday childcare there is in each area, we cannot be sure that children – particularly those with special educational needs and disabilities – are not missing out."
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