Holiday activities and food programme continues for 2023

The government has confirmed that £200 million will be provided to fund the holiday activities and food programme throughout 2023.

The free holiday clubs, run across England support parents with childcare costs over the Christmas, Easter and summer holidays by providing free, nutritious meals and enriching activities, such as football, play sessions and cooking classes. New figures out show that around 600,000 children benefited from the scheme over summer 2022 across over 8,000 clubs, events or organised activities in England.

The scheme provides for school-aged children from reception to year 11 who receive benefits related free school meals and is available for local authorities to fund clubs over summer, Easter and Christmas breaks. This programme runs alongside the household support fund which supports vulnerable households through small payments for food, clothing, and utilities. The fund has recently been extended to 30 March 2024 with an additional £1 billion to be used by used by local authorities to support vulnerable households.