Holiday hunger and child poverty

As the summer holidays begin, Hastings and Rye Green Party is highlighting the deepening child poverty crisis facing local families. We are calling for urgent action from our MP and government to address holiday hunger, income insecurity and the rising cost of childhood.

This follows a stark warning from the Children’s Commissioner for England, who described today’s child poverty as “Dickensian”. Children are going without food, beds, clean clothes and access to basic learning tools.

In Hastings and Rye:

• Only one school has been included in the government’s national breakfast club expansion, despite widespread need across the constituency.
• Even where breakfast clubs exist, funding is inconsistent. They often rely on short-term pots or charity partnerships. Many schools do not have the staff, space or budget to run them properly.
• The recent extension of free school meals is welcome. But it will still leave an estimated 1,500 children living in poverty during term time.
• Summer food support through Holiday Activities and Food (HAF) clubs is limited by age and capacity.

HAF clubs, funded by the Department for Education, provide free holiday activities and meals for children aged 7 to 14 who receive free school meals. There are a handful of HAF sessions in Rye with parents relying on travelling to Kent or Hastings.

In Hastings, HAF clubs are run by local groups such as Education Futures Trust, which offers outdoor learning and creative arts, and Active Hastings, which provides sports, dance and crafts alongside hot meals. But with limited places and a short operating window, many children, especially under sevens and those not formally eligible for free school meals, are left without help.

It is not good enough to offer warm words while children go hungry, parents skip meals and volunteers pick up the pieces. If this government is serious about child wellbeing, it needs to end the two-child benefit cap, expand universal school food, and fund real year-round support for families.

The Green Party is calling on Helena Dollimore MP to:

• Support the removal of the two-child benefit cap to lift thousands of children out of poverty.
• Expand access to free school meals and properly funded breakfast clubs across Hastings and Rye.
• Oppose the criminalisation of home education, and instead invest in support services for families.
• Urgently review the SEND reform programme, ensuring families retain choice, legal protections and access to tailored support.
• Push for year-round food security for children, including sustained funding for HAF clubs, foodbanks and local networks.
• Work with, not against, local councils to deliver real, joined-up change.

No child in Hastings or Rye should go without food or care because of outdated welfare policies and short-term politics. We call on our MP to stand with families, not with cuts.

Rye News welcomes all opinion pieces on issues that affect life in Rye and the surrounding villages. If you would like to add yours to our Opinions section email info@ryenews.org.uk.

Image Credits: Rye Community Garden .