Marcus Rashford’s holiday scheme for kids wins reprieve from spending cuts
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Concerns had been mounting over future of £200m a year scheme providing food and activities for vulnerable children. Ministers are to safeguard the Marcus Rashford-inspired scheme providing food and activities to vulnerable children during school holidays for another year, following concerns it could fall victim to a desperate search for savings across Whitehall.
![[A mural featuring Marcus Rashford on a shop wall in Withington, south Manchester.]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/dd0b53eb5bd60d15e7eee0f0bc05448911bd5e7d/0_274_8192_4915/master/8192.jpg?width=445&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
More than a million people signed a petition from the Manchester United star calling for the scheme after a huge grassroots campaign in 2020. The previous government eventually rolled out the £200m-a-year holiday activities and food (HAF) programme after pressure from Keir Starmer and his shadow ministers.
Concerns over its future had been escalating in recent weeks. Funding was set to expire this spring, with local authorities left in the dark by the government about its future. Public health chiefs have been among those raising the alarm, warning that removing the programme would lead to greater poverty, hit school attendance and damage child nutrition.
Among those who expressed concerns was Henry Dimbleby, the founder of Leon restaurants, who oversaw the previous government’s national food strategy. The strategy included a demand for the national holiday programme. He told the Observer that axing it would have been “a political miscalculation that would make the row over winter fuel payments look like a storm in a teacup”.
However, after the Observer’s inquiries about the programme, the Department for Education said that it was to be extended for another year. “The existing Holidays Activities and Food offer is hugely valuable in making sure disadvantaged children get a hot meal and social activities during the holidays,” a spokesperson said.
