1. Food insecurity and ‘holiday hunger’
The national and regional picture
Dr Deborah Harrison
North East Child Poverty Commission
17th November 2016

2. Overview Wider context: Food insecurity
‘Holiday hunger’: National and regional picture
Key challenges and learning
Resources

3. North East Child Poverty Commission
A voluntary partnership of over 30 public, private and third sector organisations in the North East.
We aim to provide a strong regional voice to raise awareness of child poverty in the North East, and to work together to tackle the problem.
The NECPC is hosted by the Institute for Local Governance (ILG) at Durham University, and funded by Millfield House Foundation.

4. Core activities Meetings, events and seminars
Newsletters, website & social media
Policy and research updates
Specific projects and campaigns
Work with children & young people
If anyone is interested in getting involved or would like to find out more about what we do, you can sign up for newsletter updates on our website:

5. Food insecurity: A national priority?

6. Food insecurity No official measurement
‘The inability to acquire or consume an adequate quality or sufficient quantity of food in socially acceptable ways, or the uncertainty that one will be able to do so.’ (DoH, 2005)
No official measurement
Foodbank usage – staggering increase (NE: 741 in 2011/12 to 87,693 in 2014/15)
Food bank statistics can be found on the Trussell Trust website: The rise in food bank usage is likely to be linked to welfare reform, changes to the benefits system and financial sanctions, and the reduction in statutory emergency assistance such as the Social Fund. This leaves families increasingly vulnerable at times and crisis and increases the risk of taking out high cost loans and falling deeper into the cycle of poverty.

7. Food insecurity: Why?
Basic living costs (utilities, food, rent, childcare) rising faster than household income
Increase in low paid, insecure work
Benefits cuts, freezes and sanctions
Food most easily ‘squeezed’ aspect of household budgets
Physical, behavioural & cultural barriers
Childcare cost increased by 42% between

8. Key issues
Increases in foodbank usage & reduction in statutory crisis assistance
Holiday hunger & cost of school holidays
Physical barriers to healthy food access
Uptake of FSMs and Healthy Start
Regional health inequalities: low birth weight, breastfeeding, childhood obesity
In recent years a series of independent inquiries and national campaigns have examined the nature of food insecurity in the UK, and made recommendations as to how it should be addressed. These include the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Hunger and Food Poverty’s (2014) Feeding Britain, Sustain’s (2015) Beyond the Food Bank and the Fabian Commission’s (2015) Hungry for Change. All three emphasise the importance of cross-sector collaboration and long-term, structural solutions in order to eradicate food poverty in the UK.
Sustain (2015). Beyond the Food Bank 2015: London Food Poverty Profile. October Available at: Accessed 23rd March 2016.
Also: Behavioural, educational and cultural factors related to food, cooking skills and budgeting
Social and psychological impacts including stigma, discrimination and reduced social participation
Specific recommendations contained within briefing note, but clear call for coordinated, cross-sector response

9. ‘Holiday hunger’

10. School holidays: 170 days Absence of FSMs (1.7 million children)
Financial stress
Weight gain & poor nutrition
Summer learning loss
Social isolation & lack of meaningful activity
Referrals increase to foodbanks, social services, debt, safeguarding, CAMHS
The summer holidays represent a major pressure point for families. In the UK there is growing research and policy interest in school holiday ‘risk factors’ experienced by low income children and families. Negative outcomes associated with time away from formal education include ‘summer learning loss’ - a phenomenon which refers to the loss of skills and knowledge in key subject areas - as well as financial strain and food insecurity due to the absence of free schools meals (FSMs) during holiday periods.
Research suggests that the summer holidays can lead to parents struggling to provide nutritionally balanced meals, and have been associated with an increase in child weight/Body Mass Index (BMI) known as the ‘summer effect’. School holidays have also been linked to social isolation and a lack of meaningful activity for children from low income families. Anecdotal evidence also points to referral spikes for social services, debt, safeguarding, CAMHS services and food banks during the summer holiday period.
There are approximately 170 non-school days each year where FSM-entitled children do not access any statutory food provision.
Wolhuter, C. (2016). Study summary of Holiday Kitchen 2015: Learning, food and play for families when they need it most. April 2016.
See also Paetcher et al. (2015), Gill and Sharma (2004) and Rai (2015).
Franckle, Adler and Davison (2014). See also Zhang et al. (2011).
Latest FSM data available here:

11. ‘Holiday hunger’: A national movement
Discussion focus on nutritional, educational, wellbeing and social impacts
BUT lack of robust data is a barrier to policy change
Holiday provision has been highlighted as a key priority both nationally and regionally. A series of national independent inquiries have been carried out into food insecurity, including the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Hunger and Food Poverty’s (2014) Feeding Britain, Sustain’s (2015) Beyond the Food Bank and the Fabian Commission’s (2015) Hungry for Change report. Amongst other recommendations, these inquiries point to a need to eradicate ‘holiday hunger’ through coordinated, cross-sector approaches involving local councils, schools, charities, food suppliers and funders. They also argue for targeted attempts to identify and remove physical, behavioural and cultural barriers to accessing good quality food. The national Poverty Ends Now (PEN) young people’s campaigning group also include holiday hunger and breakfast clubs as part of their Children’s anti-poverty manifesto (2015).
Sustain (2015). Beyond the Food Bank 2015: London Food Poverty Profile. October Available at: Accessed 23rd March 2016.
Poverty Ends Now (2015). Children’s anti-poverty manifesto. Final project report. Webb Memorial Trust and Children North east.

12. Regional approach

13. North East picture Recognised priority – passion & commitment
Diverse provision: Faith networks, LAs, food banks, food networks, housing providers, charities, schools, suppliers & donors
Holiday clubs, vouchers, food parcels
Strong academic presence and links with APPG members, MPs
Holiday provision has been identified as a current priority by several existing networks including the North East Child Poverty Policy Network, Food Newcastle, Middlesbrough and County Durham Food Partnerships, as well as several young people’s groups including the Poverty Ends Now (PEN) campaign group, Gateshead Youth Assembly and South Tyneside Youth Parliament.

14. NECPC activities Key relationships Regional event (5th April)
Holiday and breakfast clubs
Food banks & emergency provision
Healthy food access
Big Lottery application
Briefings, research updates, social media
National & local campaigns
Key relationships
All-Party Parliamentary Group on School Food, NE Directors of Public Health, schools, councils, local food partnerships, faith networks, young people, FareShare, food banks, charities, housing associations, community groups
Inquiries point to a need to eradicate ‘holiday hunger’ through coordinated, cross-sector approaches involving local councils, schools, charities, food suppliers and funders.
PEN including ST members presented at an open meeting – made a very strong case for holiday food provision and strong case for involving children and young people in how projects are designed, to make sure they fit with what young people want. Examples in South Tyneside. Useful discussion around stigma – how to limit that by focusing on activities rather than food side.
Big impact on attendees – central to positive feedback, a lot of interest in what young people are doing around this.
A lot of momentum since – support from Directors of Public Health, writing a big funding application and national interest in what NE is doing. Possibility of writing guidance for holiday clubs – make sure young people’s voice is central.

15. Challenges and learning

16. Key challenges Funding and sustainability
Getting the food balance right
Getting the activities balance right
Uptake and attendance
Demonstrating impact
‘Harder-to-reach’ families
While existing summer provision has demonstrated clear short-term benefit to local communities, critical analysis of programmes nationally - such as those monitored by the APPG on School Food - suggests that many existing projects faced shared barriers and limitations in their approach. Most observations are likely to arise from a lack of core funding, and are as follows:
Reliance on volunteers and low or no-cost activities (reducing the opportunity to develop a comprehensive programme of enrichment activities, or field trips away from the venue)
One or two days per week rather than a full programme
Food can be repetitive or of low nutritional quality (due to reliance on donations, food redistribution schemes and ‘prepare ahead’ options in the absence of large-scale catering facilities)
Lack of options for older children, harder to reach families, BME communities, and families with childcare or transport needs, caring responsibilities etc.
Getting the activity balance right between educational and fun activities, and including longer project-based activities with a final outcome (e.g. photography, performance)
Getting the food balance right between offering healthy food, allowing holiday treats and not intimidating attendees with too many unknown foods
Getting the balance right in terms of language and how programmes are marketed/promoted to avoid stigma
Lack of policy or funding to support development
Lack of national or regional best practice guidance
Limited resources for evaluation, planning, coordination and promotion
There are several national examples of holiday food provision which have been evaluated and can inform local plans, such as the Birmingham Holiday Kitchen, the Cardiff ‘Food and Fun’ model and Brakes’ Meals and More approaches.14 The Trussell Trust has unveiled plans to pilot a holiday meals programme during summer 2016, using some of its food banks as delivery venues.
Defeyter, M. A. (2015) Filling The Holiday Gap, UPDATE REPORT APPG report. Available at: Accessed on 4th May 2016.

17. What works? Identify need & gather baseline data
Involve target audience in design, planning and marketing
Publicise early and involve schools
Align with strategic outcomes (poverty, obesity, education) & potential funders
Seek an evaluation partnership

18. Young people’s perspectives
Enrichment & time outdoors:
‘A day out, not a hand out…’ (PEN member)
What’s in a name? Language, stigma and marketing
Don’t forget about older children and other less accessible groups!
Ask children and young people

19. Reading and resources
APPG Holiday Hunger task group
Fabian Society (2015). Hungry for Change: the final report of the Fabian Commission on Food and Poverty.
Sustain (2015). Beyond the Food Bank : London Food Poverty Profile.

20. Funding application: Overview
A cross-sector, regional ‘test-and-learn’ approach to addressing child food insecurity, learning loss and social isolation during school holiday periods
Series of individual neighbourhood-level projects, joined together & underpinned by a shared coordination, development and evaluation framework

21. Contact details Deborah Harrison NECPC Coordinator 0191 334 9107
@nechildpoverty