Free school meals: NI 'holiday hunger' payments axed

The Department of Education (DE) has axed "holiday hunger" payments for children entitled to free school meals.

Since July 2020, families of 96,000 children eligible for free school meals have received £27 per child each fortnight during school holidays.

The school holiday food grant was to help low-income families with the cost of feeding children.

But the department said it was ending the scheme "with great reluctance" but it no longer had funding.

It means that families will not receive the payments for the Easter school holidays, which are due to begin on Monday in many schools.

The England and Manchester United striker Marcus Rashford campaigned in 2020 to persuade the government in England to provide free school meals during the summer holidays.

In Northern Ireland, the executive decided in July 2020 to begin paying families of children entitled to free school meals to help them with the cost of food during holidays.

The payments have continued during summer, Easter, Christmas and half-term school breaks since then.

The latest figures for the 2022/23 school year show that more than 96,300 children in Northern Ireland are entitled to free school meals - about 30% of the entire school population.

Children are eligible for free school meals if their families have an annual taxable income of £16,190 or less, or net household earnings of less than £14,000 per year.

The former education minister Michelle McIlveen had extended the funding for the scheme until the end of March 2023.

But the department said that from 1 April "additional ringfenced funding has ended and therefore school holiday food grants can no longer be made".

A head teacher in Londonderry said the move would have a significant impact on families in areas of high deprivation.

Gary Matthewson from Holy Family Primary and Nursery School said the move would "likely have a knock-on effect on foodbanks".

"Families have become accustomed to the funding, they use it in terms of their financial planning in their daily meals and heating of homes," he added.

Mr Matthewson said the decision to cut the funding was "unsurprising" and that this was "one of many significant cuts in the education service".

"This is related to the fact that there is an insufficient education budget coming into Northern Ireland," he said.

"This is the front edge of what will be an exceptionally difficult financial year and possibly beyond that."

The department has also said it can no longer fund a mental health and counselling programme for children in primary schools called Happy Healthy Minds.

Funding for a scheme to help children with their learning post-pandemic called Engage is also ending on 31 March.

"We will draw on the positive learning from both programmes, which were fundamental in helping our children and young people address the impacts of the pandemic, to inform the development and implementation of future interventions," its statement continued.

The trade union NIPSA, which represents more than 8,000 members in the education sector, has condemned the decision.

Alan Law, its assistant secretary, described the timing of the announcement just days before the Easter holiday period as "abhorrent".

"Department officials would have been aware for sometime that they would be unable to fund this but has cynically waited until now to make this announcement," he said.

"A society is judged by how it treats its most vulnerable citizens and this decision is an indictment on ours. How many more people are to be exposed to cruel and damaging decisions before change is demanded?"

Sinn Féin MLA Pat Sheehan described the cuts as "totally unacceptable".

"It is outrageous that our school leaders have only been given one day's notice from the Department of Education that these programmes will be cut with no time to prepare for the destructive impact this will have," he said.

"The executive must be restored now, with parties working together, to support our children and young people and our public services from the cruel Tory cuts."

Ulster Unionist MLA Robbie Butler said that a "brutal budget" combined with no executive was failing children.

"Confirmation that the Happy Healthy Minds, Engage programmes and School Holiday Food Grant funding has not been found is not simply worrying but will have a disastrous impact on the health and well-being of many vulnerable children and struggling families," he said.

SDLP education spokesperson Daniel McCrossan MLA said: "I understand the challenging financial position that the Department of Education is in but what about the financial situation facing thousands of families?"

"Cutting holiday hunger payments right before the Easter break will be devastating for low income families across the north.

"Ending Healthy Happy Minds and the Engage programme will leave kids that need a bit more support in a terrible situation, not to mention the staff that rely on this funding."

The DE said it "recognises the important support the SHFG (School Holiday Food Grants) scheme has provided for low income families who are struggling financially, particularly with recent cost of living rises and realises the huge disappointment this will be for parents".

It added that while funding allocations have not yet been confirmed by the Northern Ireland secretary, "the Department of Education is facing an extremely challenging budget".

"We will continue to work with other government departments and agencies in efforts to tackle holiday hunger in the future."