As the summer holidays approach, the conversations in Westminster, school staffrooms and council chambers once again turn to the pressing issue of holiday hunger. While there’s clearly widespread recognition of the problem, real progress remains painfully slow.
Seb Godwin, co-founder of Procure Education, argues that unless encouraging developments to ensure children don’t slip through the net during term time are matched by a commitment to end holiday hunger, the repercussions will be felt in the classroom come September.
In 2024, a proposal was floated to mandate local authorities to provide or coordinate free meals and activities for children eligible for free school meals (FSM) outside of term time. The Government acknowledged the issue, and even signalled its intention to improve the system through better eligibility checks and data-sharing. But when it came to action, it stopped short of committing to legislative change.
From inconsistent funding streams to administrative red tape and bottlenecks, school leaders are doing everything they can, but far too often, the systems meant to support them only add to the strain. This summer, many schools and councils will again be trying to plug the gaps left by inconsistent national support, patching together holiday provision with goodwill, donations and short-term grants.
Optimistic movements
Recent policy developments are showing optimistic signs of progress, with the Government’s revised FSM eligibility criteria, albeit the Department for Education admitted it “does not know how many pupils will lose free school meals”, and a bill that would automatically enrol eligible pupils is set for a second reading in Parliament.
If passed, this legislation could remove a major administrative hurdle that has long excluded children whose parents fail to navigate a complex claims process. Yet, despite this progress, for hundreds of thousands of school children provision stops when term ends.
The truth is that access to food during the holidays is still largely dictated by geography. Some local authorities run robust Holiday Activities and Food (HAF) programmes, offering meals and support. Others struggle to deliver anything at all, often because of tight budgets or lack of infrastructure. The Association for Public Service Excellence (APSE) has repeatedly flagged this inconsistency, urging a more joined-up approach. Its research shows that where councils are given resources and a clear directive, holiday provision not only reduces hunger but improves wellbeing, and boosts school attendance.
For instance, as recently as June of this year (2025), families in Bradford were being urged to re-sign up for its ‘holiday hunger’ programme. Not only does it provide free and healthy meals, but deputy leader of Bradford Council, Imran Khan, said the programme had already had a “remarkable impact” on young people in the Bradford district.
This is great, but it also highlights disparities between councils, with some areas maintaining a full programme of holiday activities while others struggle to meet even basic demand. This patchwork approach creates a postcode lottery, leaving thousands of children unsupported – not due to lack of need, but due to the absence of a consistent national framework.
Adding to the uncertainty is the replacement of the Household Support Fund (HSF), which ended on March 31 2025, to be replaced with a £1 billion “Crisis and Resilience Fund“, as announced in Labour’s 2025 Spending Review. We still await to see how this pans out.
In our work across education procurement, we have seen that schools and local authorities are not short on commitment. What they lack is certainty, and without long-term funding or a legislative requirement to deliver, holiday food provision is always at risk of being deprioritised when budgets are squeezed. Voluntary schemes, however well-intentioned, cannot deliver the consistency and scale required.
The case for legislative backing is strong, and a statutory duty for local authorities to provide holiday food and activity programmes would formalise what many are already trying to deliver. It would allow councils to plan ahead, commission services properly, and build lasting partnerships with schools and community providers. Crucially, it would ensure that no child misses out simply because of where they live.
This is not a new debate, and organisations such as APSE, the Food Foundation and the Children’s Society have been making the case for years. The question now is whether the current political momentum will be enough to bring about real change. With automatic FSM enrolment on the horizon and the eligibility net widened, we finally have the infrastructure to identify those in need.
Holiday hunger is not just a policy issue – it’s a moral one. The impact on learning, mental health and family wellbeing is well-documented. Every summer we fail to act is another summer children go without. We have a choice to treat holiday food provision as an optional extra, or to build it into the DNA of how we support vulnerable families year-round.
A call for a national duty, and how it could work
If the Government is serious about tackling holiday hunger, summer 2025 must mark a shift in both policy and practice. That begins with a statutory duty placed on local authorities – or consortia of councils and schools – to deliver holiday meals and activities for children eligible for free school meals. Without such a legal obligation, delivery will remain inconsistent and vulnerable to local budget pressures.
This commitment must be backed by ring‑fenced funding and kept separate from broader local authority budgets. Relying on ad hoc grants leaves providers unable to plan effectively or build sustainable delivery models.
We also need integrated planning, with new data tools making it possible to automatically identify eligible children at the individual level, so no child slips through the cracks. These systems must be used to ensure precision, speed, and inclusion.
At the same time, evaluation and local flexibility must go hand-in-hand. We should aim for a system where the approach is shaped by local need and infrastructure, but the outcomes are non-negotiable. With auto‑enrolment on the horizon and eligibility criteria evolving, the infrastructure to act already exists.
We have the data and the evidence and we even have a draft bill that could make a difference. What’s needed now is the political will to follow through, because until holiday food support becomes a legal obligation, too many children will continue to face the school holidays with dread, not joy. And come September, our schools will have to pick up the pieces again.
