SDLP MLA Mark H Durkan has expressed disappointment that the Department for Education failed to listen to families of vulnerable children reliant on holiday hunger payments.
The holiday food grants of £27 per fortnight was axed in March 2023 amid budget pressures.
An equality and human rights policy screening published by the Department highlighted that the decision to cut the payment would have a disproportionate impact on pupils with a disability.
Said the Foyle MLA: “The department was forewarned that the most vulnerable children would be hit hardest by cuts to the holiday hunger payments.
“That fact was patently clear and didn’t require a detailed analysis.
“Voices from every quarter pleaded with the department to extend these payments knowing what this would mean for low-income households and in particular, families of children with complex needs.
“Ethnic minority groups are also bearing the brunt of this senseless decision.
“Sadly, food insecurity is a reality within our communities and one which is deepening as food costs continue to soar.
“Findings from Trussell Trust have revealed that foodbanks here have witnessed a 194% increase in usage since 2018. Holiday hunger payments should never have been scrapped given the clearly evidenced and profound need.
“I previously warned that vulnerable children would be at risk in terms of their development, health and wellbeing in the absence of this support.
“It’s a shameful indictment on political leadership here that the North is the only region within the UK which doesn’t offer families any type of holiday hunger provision.
“This small but vital support should be reinstated.
“We need an Executive in place to tackle the root problem of childhood poverty, including implementation of the long overdue Anti-Poverty Strategy and urgent delivery of mitigations against the two child benefit cap which is crippling thousands of Universal Credit households and is predicted to drive tens of thousands more families into poverty with the incoming migration of Tax Credit claimants.
“Holiday hunger payments are needed in the short term but addressing the underlying causes of hunger and childhood poverty must be a priority within any incoming Programme of Government.”
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