It is scandalous that the government is stopping the vouchers over the summer, although the vouchers should be sent direct to families rather than expecting the school to hand them over.
Even without the added complication of a global pandemic that has seen many extra families thrown into poverty, 'Holiday Hunger' and 'Summer Learning Loss' are very real public health issues that have been spiralling out of control for years, many charities and playschemes have been stepping in to try and bridge the gap, however, they still struggle to provide enough and this year many will be unlikely to run, which only increases the problem.
Many families also do not qualify for free school meals but are still too poor to afford the proper range of nutritious food needed for children to thrive, the stigma of being identified as being 'poor' also stops some from reaching out for help.
For the last 2 summers, I have volunteered at a charity playscheme that provides a 'pie and play' scheme that gives children and their families access to activities, safe play areas and a hot meal and pudding all for free (food is donated by local farmers, businesses and supermarkets including food destined for landfill but is still edible. The scheme cooks for up to 350 people on any one day and also runs a community pantry that provides extra food to take home (like a food bank but no referral needed and take as much as you need basis).
I am also about to qualify as a nutritionist and will be looking to work in public health nutrition to help fight this from a professional slant.
As usual I can see that people are denying that this kind of poverty exists in the UK however, a simple literature review of Holiday Hunger and Summer Learning Loss will prove otherwise.
Malnutrition is not just about the quantity of food available but also the quality and good quality proteins, carbs and fats cost money, money which many parents simply do not have, especially during the summer holidays.