One-third of families in East worried about feeding children over summer holidays

More than a third of parents say they are concerned they may not be able to provide three meals for their children over the summer holidays due to the cost of living crisis, new figures show.

The charity Action for Children has highlighted the financial pressures many families are facing at the start of the six-week break.

More than half of parents also fear they will not be able to afford a holiday this summer, with 51% of parents saying a holiday is beyond their budget and 52% saying they will not be able to stretch to a short break or activities for their children.

ITV News Anglia spent a day with organisations trying to help struggling families in Clacton-on-Sea and Luton.

In Essex, Lorraine Staines of Child and Provide, which offers meals and activities for children referred by local authorities, said: "You see the children come in actually very, very hungry.

"They just need support and food is so expensive, the cost of living has gone up.

"So they come here, they make friends, they eat well and they do lots of activities."

On the day ITV News Anglia visited, Suzanne Duffy was there with her grandson.

She said: "They get a hot meal, they get support, they get kindness and care and security and a safe place to play. It's an absolute necessity in deprived places like this.

"We've such a high proportion of poor people in the area that really struggle, that this is really important."

Meanwhile, figures from the TUC shows that, for households with at least one parent in work, the number of kids living in poverty in the East of England increased from 186,400 in 2010 to 238,400 in 2023 – a rise of 52,000 (28%).

Last year, Luton Foodbank gave out 4,000 parcels, of which 20% were for children.

Elise Hyslop of Active Luton, which put on school holidays camps for 6,500 children in 2023, said it was a vital help for families.

"We're seeing the pressure on families, the financial pressures, the pressures to feed their children.

"This just takes away some of that stress, I think, for parents because they can come here and they know they are having at least one healthy, hot meal."

Yasmin Sultana of Luton Foodbank she said: "It is really worrying, but I think because of the cost of living everyone is struggling now.

"We do try to help them to let them know that there is a lot of help out there, there is a lot of support."

The foodbank also has an adviser who is able to help families with accessing the right benefits.

Action for Children, which conducted the survey, believes urgent action is needed.

Joe Lane, the charity's head of policy and research, said: "This is a crisis. Child poverty has been rising across the country over the last 10 years.

"It's really, really positive that this new government has announced a child poverty task force but that doesn't make any difference to you if you are a parent struggling with your household bills and your finances.

"So that task force needs to get to work pretty quickly so people feel the impact of the pound in their pocket."

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