Holiday Hunger: Feeding Children During the School Holidays

Childhood poverty is rising in the United Kingdom and now impacts 3.9 million children (McCall 2016, p. 747). As a result, more children experience poor nutrition and hunger. This chapter focuses on the concept of “holiday hunger” as one aspect of poverty that threatens the wellbeing of children. We begin by exploring existing health and science literature to examine the potential impact of holiday hunger on childhood wellbeing. We then discuss the growth of holiday clubs aimed at tackling this issue and key findings from holiday club evaluations to date, outlining 3 key areas for consideration in the future development of holiday clubs. Finally, we examine the way communities and local governments have struggled against the problem of holiday hunger by establishing “holiday clubs” to ameliorate the problem. Importantly, these clubs face challenges, as they exist in an era of neoliberalism that could serve to undermine attempts to help those children who are the most deprived.