Liverpool’s community organisations and the city’s Holiday Activities and Food (HAF) programmes are offering free meals, activities and support over the Christmas break.
Children and young people, from reception to age 16 who are eligible for benefit-related free school meals, will be able to access hundreds of activities throughout the winter holidays, including specific provision available for children with SEND or additional needs.
The HAF programme, funded by the Department for Education and delivered locally through partners including Liverpool City Council and Merseyside Play Action Council, will provide a range of festive and non-festive activities across the city.
Clubs across Merseyside will run for a minimum of four hours a day, four days a week and include a hot meal, alongside activities designed to boost health, wellbeing and social contact.
Colin Heaney, HAF co-ordinator, Merseyside Play Action Council, said: “It’s about giving kids who can’t afford to pay for activities in local centres a chance to get fed, learn and share experiences.
“The demand is greater than we can ever hope to meet. The programme is for those kids on benefit related free school meals, and there’s probably around 28,000 to 30,000 of those kids in the city.
“There’s no way the money stretches to all 28,000 kids, it just doesn’t happen.”
He added: “So, there’s clearly a demand, but we try to do the best we can with the resources we’ve got to make it available to people.”
Organisations delivering the HAF programme say that the scheme has gone from being a welcome extra to an essential lifeline, one that needs far greater long-term investment.
Inflation in food prices and winter fuel costs are hitting at the same time as festive pressures, creating added strain on households with children across the city.
Andrea Vaz, Chief Executive Officer of the Black-e, a community and arts centre which will run some of the sessions, said the pressures on families are hard to ignore.
She said: “We are seeing a lot of food poverty and the increase in food banks. People who are going out to work and are earning money are only still just making ends meet.
“There has to be more funding available.”
She added: “If we look at the food that we buy with HAF funding, my bill has doubled in under a year.”
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