{"id":45928,"date":"2019-10-23T17:09:39","date_gmt":"2019-10-23T16:09:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/?p=45928"},"modified":"2019-10-31T11:23:15","modified_gmt":"2019-10-31T10:23:15","slug":"holiday-hunger-the-government-must-remove-the-inequalities-in-childrens-access-to-holiday-clubs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/2019\/10\/23\/holiday-hunger-the-government-must-remove-the-inequalities-in-childrens-access-to-holiday-clubs\/","title":{"rendered":"Holiday hunger: The government must remove the inequalities in children&#8217;s access to holiday clubs"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"standfirst\">Holiday clubs would help the three million children in the UK who are at risk of holiday hunger, say Margaret A Defeyter, Paul B Stretesky, and Michael A Long<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Children all over the UK will be on their half term break over this week and the next. Sadly, many of them will experience what<\/span> <span style=\"font-weight: 400\">politicians and the media have dubbed \u201choliday hunger,\u201d a term used to describe the food insecurity associated with school holidays.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Nearly <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/feedingbritain.files.wordpress.com\/2015\/02\/hungry-holidays.pdf\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">one million pupils<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> who receive free school meals during the school term are at risk of holiday hunger. An additional <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/feedingbritain.files.wordpress.com\/2015\/02\/hungry-holidays.pdf\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">two million pupils<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> who do not receive free school meals, but whose parents experience in-work poverty, are also at risk of holiday hunger. This form of seasonal hunger does not only affect pupils, but <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/onlinelibrary.wiley.com\/doi\/full\/10.1111\/hsc.12507\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">entire households<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">. For instance, parents on low incomes often say that they <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.frontiersin.org\/articles\/10.3389\/fpubh.2015.00199\/full\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">skip meals<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> during the school holidays so their children can eat.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Holiday hunger is an under-researched phenomena; it is a contemporary term, but policy makers have been concerned about food insecurity during school holidays since the start of the 20th century. On 27 March 1914, for example, Bradford MP Fred Jowett proposed a bill to \u201cenable meals to be provided for underfed children during school holidays.\u201d He became concerned about the problem after consulting with a school medical officer who observed a decrease in children\u2019s weight during the school holidays. Today, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.frontiersin.org\/articles\/10.3389\/fpubh.2016.00172\/full\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">researchers continue to emphasise<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> the \u201ctendency for children to be unable to access an adequate supply of nutritious food during the school holidays.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">One intervention that has been proposed to solve this is holiday clubs, which take place locally and are a bottom up approach to poverty. The need for them has sharpened with recent reforms to the benefits system and cuts to local authority funding. As a result, a range of organisations, including third sector organisations operating on a smaller scale, now <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.tandfonline.com\/doi\/abs\/10.1080\/13549839.2018.1518415?journalCode=cloe20\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">deliver holiday provision to low income families<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> across the UK.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">A sociological examination of these programmes suggests that they do more than reduce food insecurity by feeding children and educating families about food preparation and nutrition. Clubs provide numerous <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/nrl.northumbria.ac.uk\/40062\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">additional resources<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> that <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.children-ne.org.uk\/northumbria-universitys-research-findings\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">improve wellbeing<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> for parents, children, volunteers, and staff. For instance, <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/nrl.northumbria.ac.uk\/40062\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">research suggests<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> that clubs provide children with physical, cultural, and educational activities and may help them prepare to return to school. Clubs also provide children with a safe place to be during the summer.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">For parents, holiday clubs aid in <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.familyandchildcaretrust.org\/childcare-survey-2016-0\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">caregiving<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> and <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.familyandchildcaretrust.org\/file\/1413\/download?token=s2opgsCA\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">bolster household financial resources<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> by allowing them to continue to honour their <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.children-ne.org.uk\/northumbria-universitys-research-findings\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">caregiving<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> and <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.mayorsfundforlondon.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/Mayors-Fund-for-London_Kitchen-Social_Evaluation-Report-1_Nov18.pdf\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">work commitments<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> through the school holidays. These clubs also signpost parents to resources and other community services, such as healthcare and housing advice, and foster a sense of belonging among parents. Finally, the staff and volunteers who administer these clubs have <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.mayorsfundforlondon.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/Mayors-Fund-for-London_Kitchen-Social_Evaluation-Report-1_Nov18.pdf\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">observed improvements<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> in children\u2019s behaviour and ability to engage in activities; a strengthening of the relationships between children and their parents, as well as friendships with their peers; and an equalisation of children\u2019s readiness to return to school.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Today, the Department of Health and the Department for Education (DfE) fund a number of programmes across England to support the nutritional needs of school aged children during school term time, such as breakfast clubs. These breakfast clubs have been found to have a <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.frontiersin.org\/articles\/10.3389\/fnhum.2013.00789\/full\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">positive impact<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> on children\u2019s <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/onlinelibrary.wiley.com\/doi\/full\/10.1111\/j.1467-3010.2010.01843.x\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">nutritional intake<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> and <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.frontiersin.org\/articles\/10.3389\/fpubh.2019.00283\/abstract\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">educational attainment<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">, as well as <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.frontiersin.org\/articles\/10.3389\/fpubh.2015.00183\/full\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">positive social benefits<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">. However, these programmes only exist during term time and currently there is no England-wide state funding for holiday provision.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The DfE recently launched a competitive bidding process to invest more than \u00a39M across 11 geographic areas to help feed and provide activities to 50 000 children during the school summer holidays through the Holiday Activities and Food Programme. We applaud this investment, but would stress that it is not sufficient given the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/feedingbritain.files.wordpress.com\/2015\/02\/hungry-holidays.pdf\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">estimated three million children at risk of food insecurity<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> across all of the school holidays. Indeed, the majority of holiday provision remains unregulated and patchy, especially when mapped against <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.tandfonline.com\/doi\/abs\/10.1080\/13549839.2018.1518415?journalCode=cloe20\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">multiple social deprivation indices<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">To address this variation and the inequalities in access to holiday provision, we\u2019d suggest that there are two ways forward. Firstly, prior <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.frontiersin.org\/articles\/10.3389\/fpubh.2015.00199\/full\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">qualitative research<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> has emphasised that to reduce the stigma that holiday club provision is targeting the poor it should be available on a universal basis, regardless of individual children\u2019s circumstances.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Secondly, the fact that the DfE\u2019s Holiday Activities and Food Programme is not universal means there are \u201cwinners\u201d and \u201closers\u201d from this scheme. In our opinion, this approach introduces an additional layer of inequality for those disadvantaged families with children who are unlucky enough to live in a community that was not included in the programme.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">We appeal to the government to address the root causes of poverty. Yet in the meantime, it is vital that they invest equally in communities to offer local holiday programmes, which run during all school holidays and not just the summer.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"><strong><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-45930 alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/files\/2019\/10\/Margaret_Defeyter.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"122\" height=\"128\" \/>Margaret A Defeyter<\/strong> is a professor in the Department of Social Work, Education and Community Wellbeing and director of the Healthy Living Lab at Northumbria University, UK where she researches food insecurity and school feeding programmes.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>Competing interests:<\/strong> I have read and understood BMJ policy on declaration of interests and declare the following interests: None.<\/p>\n<p><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"><strong><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-45933 alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/files\/2019\/10\/Paul_Stretesky.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"122\" height=\"129\" \/>Paul B Stretesky<\/strong> is a professor of social sciences and associate director of the Healthy Living Lab at Northumbria University, UK where he researches food insecurity and environmental harm.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>Competing interests:<\/strong> I have read and understood BMJ policy on declaration of interests and declare the following interests: None.<\/p>\n<p><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"><strong><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-45934 alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/files\/2019\/10\/michael_long.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"122\" height=\"129\" \/>Michael A Long<\/strong> is an associate professor in the Department of Sociology at Oklahoma State University, USA where he works on issues of food insecurity and environmental harm.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>Competing interests:<\/strong> I have read and understood BMJ policy on declaration of interests and declare the following interests: None.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Holiday clubs would help the three million children in the UK who are at risk of holiday hunger, say Margaret A Defeyter, Paul B Stretesky, and Michael A Long [&#8230;]<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"btn btn-secondary understrap-read-more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/2019\/10\/23\/holiday-hunger-the-government-must-remove-the-inequalities-in-childrens-access-to-holiday-clubs\/\">More&#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":45929,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[223],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-45928","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-guest-bloggers"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - 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