Families need support now – pass the Holiday Hunger Bill as written

NIAPN calls on all our MLA’s to support the Holiday Hunger Bill as it currently stands, and to reject the amendments tabled by the Minister of Education, so that the legislation will take immediate effect.

We need action to end child poverty and reduce the impact of poverty on children and their families now.

Our children from the most disadvantaged backgrounds have not been prioritised and the Education Minister’s tabled amendment is the latest in a series of political decisions that continue to neglect their needs.

For children to learn, their basic needs must be met, including shelter, clothing and food. In the past year, the Uniform legislation has failed to make a real difference in the costs for families; school dinners have increased in price, at the same time as every other jurisdiction on these islands have rolled out some universal provision for free school meals; children, many of whom are going to school in crumbling schools, have been told to wear more layers rather than heat the classroom sufficiently; and the social disadvantage criteria for nursery admission has been scrapped.

This Bill is an important contribution to ensuring that our most disadvantaged children do not go hungry during school holidays. But, it cannot stand alone. To tackle Child Poverty effectively, this Bill should sit along multiple headline initiatives that address the structural causes of child poverty, imbedded in a well-resourced Anti Poverty Strategy. Without this, children and families will continue to face avoidable hardship year after year.

But the first step is to pass this bill as it stands, so that our children can be supported now – not at some unknown point in the future.

Advice NI has written the following statement, supported by NIAPN and other organisations:

Families distraught as ‘Holiday Hunger Bill’ in jeopardy

“Fears that amendments tabled by Education Minister will deprive children of financial support during school holidays

A Private Members Bill sponsored by Danny Baker MLA aims to address the serious issue of ‘holiday hunger’ experienced by many children in low-income families during holiday periods.  This Bill would allow families to receive financial payments during holidays in lieu of the Free School Meals their children would be receiving if they were in school.  One of the few remaining stages for the passage of the Education (Holiday Meal Payments) Bill through the NI Assembly, namely the Further Consideration Stage, will take place on Monday 12th October.

The Education Minister has tabled amendments at the last possible moment which seek to re-write the Bill, placing commencement and the implementation timetable in the control of the Minister and the Department. As it currently stands, the legislation would require the Department to begin providing support from the beginning of the next school holiday after the Bill passes. Under the Minister’s amendments, parents and children would have no guarantees about when, if ever, payments might begin.

We are calling on all political parties and all MLAs to reject the amendments tabled by the Education Minister and support the Bill as it currently stands.  

We have already seen a number of examples of Bills which have become law but which have not yet been commenced. For example, the Domestic Abuse (Safe Leave) Act 2022 received Royal Assent in 2022, and would have introduced ten days of safe leave per year for workers experiencing domestic abuse, but has still not been fully commenced through regulations by the NI Executive. 

“Having the Holiday Hunger payments would make a big difference to me and my children. We’re all struggling with the cost of living and trying to give our kids healthy food and we need help now when costs are so high. These payments would help take away some of the financial pressure we’re under and make sure our children are getting the regular, healthy and nutritious food they need to grow and learn. Children deserve to enjoy their holidays and take part in activities without feeling hungry or feeling different because their family is struggling financially. Making these payments is an investment in children helping to guarantee their health, happiness and future.”

The evidence for action is clear. Approximately 90,000 children in NI are entitled to Free School Meals. The NI Audit Office have said: “A failure to tackle child poverty early and effectively risks lifelong impacts to children’s health, education and general development. There is also a considerable cost to the public purse, with previous estimates indicating costs of child poverty to be between £825 million and £1 billion annually.”

Lauren Entwhistle from Atlas Women’s Centre

At a time when it has never been harder to put food on the table, school holidays create a distinct and compounding pressure on family budgets. The additional cost of feeding children who would otherwise receive a free school meal arrives at the same time as many other holiday-period costs: childcare, holiday schemes/activities, and the huge burden of school uniforms and shoes experienced particularly over the summer months.

The evidence from our work, is that families face a cascade of difficult choices when free school meals are not available:

• Adults skip meals altogether or reduce their own food intake to prioritise their children’s meals.
• Families purchase cheaper, less nutritious food and processed and frozen options replace fresh produce.
• Families take on debt – through credit cards or, in some cases, illegal money lenders – to bridge the gap, creating financial harm that extends well beyond the holiday period.
• The mental load of managing meals and making ends meet across holiday periods causes immeasurable stress and anxiety for parents, undermining the wellbeing of the whole family.

The provisions in the Bill as it currently stands are reasonable and proportionate given the scale of the hardship facing low-income children and families and will help prevent or alleviate these serious issues. 

In many ways this Bill is a relatively small, modest step: but a crucially important step. If not this Bill, if not our most disadvantaged children – then what, if any, action can we ever expect from our locally elected representatives.

PLEASE SUPPORT THE ‘HOLIDAY HUNGER BILL’.

Signatories

• Act Now NI
• Advice NI
• Barnardo’s NI
• Children in NI
• Children’s Law Centre
• Ciara Fitzpatrick
• Disability Action
• Employers for Childcare
• Feeding Britain
• Law Centre NI
• Mindwise
• NI Anti Poverty Network
• NICCY
• NSPCC
• Parenting NI
• Save the Children
• STEP
• Trussell
• Unison
• Women’s Regional Consortium
• Women’s Support Network