For children whose hard-up parents struggle to feed them when school dinners are off the menu, the long summer holidays are far less fun.
So charities are trying to make sure they get three meals a day.
It is a lifeline that could ease the growing crisis sparked by Tory austerity and benefit changes.
Parents face an extra £40 a week in food bills for each child over the break. A parliamentary report predicted a million kids are at risk of going hungry in the summer months.
The Trussell Trust, which supports more than 1,200 food banks, said it is braced for its busiest summer. Last year it gave out 87,496 food parcels – up 20 per cent on 2017.
So the Sunday People visited the Neo Community scheme on the Wirral to see the human faces behind the statistics. It offers meals and activities and is part of the Feeding Birkenhead Project – chaired by local MP Frank Field.
Neo Community founder Ema Wilkes, 33, said: “We do roast dinners, curry, stew, full English breakfast. We have 500 people a week in, some for the cafe and some for the social supermarket.
“We ask that people pay what they can afford. If it’s not money, they can offer their time and skills to help.”
Visitors to Neo Community – which stands for Need, Engage, Organise – include single mum Sarah Crawshaw, 32, and her son Michael, 11. Sarah, who gets benefits of £120 a week, said: “Michael has school dinners in term, so in the summer it costs an extra £40 a week.
“The centre here provides meals for the kids and I’m here four or five times a week. I can eat here too.
“There have been times I’ve had to say I’ll pay them the next day or next week but they’ve been brilliant.”
Nursery nurse Anne Newbould, 47, is a single mum with an 11-year-old daughter and earns £1,000 a month.
She said: “I’ve got to find money for childcare. I don’t get support with that. Then there’s food.
“During school she’ll have breakfast at home, a morning snack, then lunch, and fruit in the afternoon.
“In the holidays it’s tough. I don’t think people realise the hardship.”
Neo Community gets grants from local businesses but most cash comes from its own fundraising efforts. Ema set up the scheme in an old social services building in Wallasey in 2013.
She said: “I wanted something in which everyone was equal. It wasn’t about people with more doing things for the people with less.
“Neo Community is against filling in forms. No one will ever be asked for their bank statements.
“We should give them the food they need then say, ‘How can we stop the crisis that’s affecting you?’”
The complex has a cafe, a community boutique with clothing that might otherwise go to landfill, an art room and a kids’ club, plus offices. There is also an old boat, nicknamed HMS Dignity, which kids and volunteers are repairing.
Ema said: “The supermarkets work on ‘pay as you feel’. And people are honest. It empowers everyone and embeds pride as everyone is helping each other. We call it community currency.”
Mother of two Eve Openshaw, 37, uses the centre and also volunteers. Her family struggles on benefits of around £1,250 a month.
Eve has epilepsy and has been in and out of hospital for two years, and in intensive care three times.
She said: “I’ve worked from 15. It’s only the past 18 months we’ve been on benefits. I make sure my kids have food and clothing. I try to give them the best, even now.
“It hurts that we can’t go on holiday. The holidays will make us struggle more. We want to do things as a family. I’d love to take them to a theme park or beach but usually we can’t. This place is a life-saver.
“I wouldn’t go to a food bank. It’s degrading. Never again. Coming here doesn’t feel degrading. The atmosphere’s so friendly, it’s wonderful. But universal credit is causing more and more problems with more people going to food banks.”
The Department for Education has allocated £9.1million to charities and community groups to provide 50,000 free meals and activities for disadvantaged children over the holidays.
Uniform debt peril for poorest
Leading firms are urging some of Britain’s poorest parents to take loans at interest rates of up to 40 per cent to buy school uniforms.
Campaigners warn that families risk debt or cutting back on essentials.
Marc Gander of the Consumer Action Group said: “These firms target parents who probably have children in receipt of free school meals with extortionate interest.” Firms offering the deals include Very.co.uk, fronted by This Morning TV host Holly Willoughby, Argos, New Look and Next.
Very charges 39.9 per cent on “buy now pay later”.
It says £12 charges for missed repayments are necessary for chasing down late payments with phone calls or letters.
Borrowing £600 for three kids at a rate of 39.9 per cent with Very over 12 months will cost £737.43. Argos charges 29.9 per cent and New Look promises parents they can “buy now, pay later” if they take out a store card with 28.9 per cent interest rate.
The Children’s Society found a million children live in families who are getting into debt to meet cost of uniforms. New Look said: “As many retailers do, we offer a ‘Buy now, pay later’ option.”
Next said: “Our standard APR applies to the uncleared balance of all credit accounts.” Very did not want to comment.
Labour MP Emma Hardy, campaigning to cut uniform costs, said: “These companies wouldn’t be able to exploit parents if the uniform was not so expensive.”
