Richard says he has faced “horrible” choices during the school summer holidays as he struggles to feed his children.
“We’ve sold toys, clothes, ornaments, even used my kids’ old birthday money, just to keep things going,” the father-of-three from London tells Sky News.
“Both me and my wife work, but I can’t provide enough for my family.
“It’s hard admitting that I need help and not wanting everyone to know that I’m struggling.
“It’s not champagne and caviar we need – just the amenities, fruit and veg, yoghurts, bread, milk.”
Richard’s story is not uncommon.
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A report, conducted by The Felix Project, found 67% of teachers in England were worried at least one child in their class would go hungry when their free school meals stop during the summer holidays. That’s equates to roughly 675,000 pupils at risk.
More than half of the 9,000 teachers surveyed feared up to three children per class may be affected, while 13% were concerned about four to six pupils.
In some classes, teachers said up to 11 children could face food insecurity, which occurs when there is a consistent lack of access to affordable and nutritious food.
“My son goes to breakfast club every morning and he obviously gets free school meals, but with him being home in the holidays these two meals have got to be covered by me,” Richard says.
“This obviously, with the cost of living and high food costs, means our food bills go up. Plus, I’ve got three children, so you’re talking about a dozen extra meals a day.”
At William Ford Junior School in Dagenham, staff have been running a food bank in partnership with the Felix Project.
Family support worker Kerry Noakes said: “We were only expecting to cater for about 50 families. But we’ve reached far more, parents, elderly relatives, neighbours. The need is huge.
“We know Felix estimated one child in every class would go hungry. We felt it was more accurate to say four or five children in each class.”
At the Felix Project in London, demand has surged.
Rachel Ledwith, the charity’s head of community engagement, said: “More and more working families are finding themselves struggling to feed their children.
“More and more of them are having to turn to food banks and numbers are increasing every year.”
Even with 5,000 cooked meals a day leaving its kitchen, the charity says the demand outstrips what it can provide.
“Even with the incredible work that we’re doing… there are still children going hungry,” Rachel says.
“Our services are oversubscribed every summer, so it’s heartbreaking that we still have to say no.”
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The scale is staggering. The Felix Project supports around 1,200 organisations across the capital but says it has 800 on the waitlist.
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The Department for Education (DfE) told Sky News it recognised the school holidays “can be a pressurised time for parents”, saying the government was “putting pounds back in parents’ pockets through our Plan for Change both during the holidays and in term time”.
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Earlier this week, it was announced government funding for a programme which offers children from low-income families free meals and activities during the school holidays will be extended.
Some £600m is being invested to extend the Holiday Activities and Food (HAF) programme – which funds councils to provide holiday childcare, activities and food for children eligible for free school meals – for another three years.
The HAF programme – for school-aged children from reception to year 11 – helps parents to make savings of more than £300 a year, the DfE said.
