Food banks run out as hungry children on summer holidays have no access to free school meals

Food banks across the country are coming under pressure as children lose access to free school meals during the summer holidays.

David McAuley, chief executive of anti-poverty charity The Trussell Trust, has warned that some hubs within the 420-strong network are running dangerously low on supplies.

“Rising demand in the summer holidays as families struggle to get by without free school meals” is at the root of the problem, he said.

The Trussell Trust handed out 4,412 more three-day emergency food parcels for children during July and August last year than in the previous two months. 

Around one million children currently receive free school meals during term time.

One independent food bank in Wales ran out of basic supplies such as dried pasta and toiletries for the first time at the end of the first week of the summer holidays.

Read MOre...