Why holiday meal money for cash-strapped parents is back on the menu

For many pupils, school holidays are a time of "food insecurity," according to school principal Aine Leslie.

In her school, Malone Integrated College, more than half of the 750 pupils are entitled to free school meals.

At Christmas, staff raised £3,000 to provide supermarket vouchers to families of pupils in need.

Now, she's backed a Stormont Bill which aims to re-instate so-called holiday hunger payments to families during the school holidays.

How much were holiday hunger payments?

From July 2020 until March 2023, families of 90,000 children eligible for free school meals 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 when they were not in school.

The payments were made over the summer, Easter, Christmas and half-term school breaks.

The Education (Holiday Meal Payments) Bill introduced in the assembly by Baker would re-instate the payments at an estimated cost of around £20m a year initially.

Children are eligible for free school meals if their family's household income is below £15,390 a year.

What do school heads say?

Over half of the 750 pupils at Malone Integrated College in Belfast are entitled to free school meals.

Aine Leslie says that reflects "the significant levels of deprivation within the communities we serve".

"For many of our pupils, the school day provides not only education but also a reliable source of food and stability."

The school runs a subsidised breakfast club, and provides uniforms and shoes for some families.

At Christmas 2025, rather than have a Christmas dinner or Secret Santa, staff in the school raised £3000 to provide supermarket vouchers to families in need.

"When schools close for extended holiday periods, that support disappears, and families already struggling with the cost-of-living face even greater pressure," Leslie says.

She says bringing back a holiday hunger payments would provide "practical, dignified support for families and ensure that vulnerable children are not placed at a further disadvantage simply because the school term has ended".

"For many of our most vulnerable pupils, the summer break is not a time of opportunity but a period of isolation, food insecurity and limited access to safe, structured activities," she adds.

Families who are not eligible 'also struggling'

At Dungannon Primary, about a third of its 320 pupils are entitled to free school meals.

Its principal, David Thompson, says support for vulnerable families was "crucial".

He adds that a growing number of families are struggling to make ends meet.

Because of that he believes that additional support during the holidays would "undoubtedly be warmly received by some of those who are already finding it difficult to cope".

But he says there were also families above the eligibility threshold for free meals who also needed help.

"These households—often referred to as the 'working poor' —frequently carry a heavy financial burden and can face just as much pressure during school holiday periods," he says.

He believes there is a need for a "fairer and more inclusive system that recognises and supports these families as well" to ensure that "no child is disadvantaged simply because their family sits marginally above an income threshold".

Thompson also expressed concern about the state of the education budget.

"Given the current financial climate within our schools, where budgets are under unprecedented strain, I am not convinced that a holiday hunger allowance is where limited resources most urgently need to be directed," he says.

"While the intention behind the proposal is understandable and well meaning, it is essential that any new initiatives are balanced against the immediate and pressing needs within our school system."

Why has the Holiday Hunger bill been introduced?

Sinn Féin MLA Danny Baker was motivated to introduce it by some of his experiences of breakfast clubs and meal schemes in youth work.

"There was a young boy, about the same age of my youngest, around seven years old," he explains.

"He was filling his wee pockets up and we caught on to this.

"To cut a long story short, he was bringing home food for his siblings because there just wasn't enough food in the house," Baker adds.

"So much great work is done in our community and voluntary sector but it shouldn't be on them.

"I know this is only one piece of a much wider puzzle but we have to start somewhere."

In preparation for the bill, Baker has estimated it would cost around £20m a year to re-introduce the payments.

"I'm not naive to say that it won't cause issues for a department," Baker says.

"But departments and ministers have their own priorities and their own budgets.

"It does come down to hard choices.

"This will be a decision for the house to take but there will be ramifications for the budget.

"But I want to make this an inescapable pressure for any minister coming forward in education," Baker says.

The bill has been introduced to the assembly, and Baker is hopeful that there will be time for it to be passed before the next election in early 2027.

A spokesperson for the DE said additional funding was provided by the executive to enable the department to pay School Holiday Food Grants from July 2020.

However, this additional funding ended in March 2023.

The DE said it continues to support children through free school meals to low-income families and will continue to work with other government departments and agencies to look at ways to tackle holiday hunger.