The Education Committee published a call for evidence on the Education (Holiday Meal Payments) Bill.  It seeks to restore the ‘Holiday Hunger’ payments which were made to those entitled to Free School Meals during holiday periods.  These payments were stopped in 2023.  It was one of the key asks of Consortium research into the impact of the Cost-of-Living Crisis on women for these payments to be urgently reinstated.

Siobhán has carried out some focus group research and individual interviews with women for this call for evidence.  Together with the lived experience and previous research work into the impact of the Cost-of-Living Crisis on women Siobhán made a joint submission to the call for evidence with Ulster University.

You can read the joint response on the Consortium’s website here:

Joint-WRC-and-UU-Response-to-Education-Holiday-Meal-Payments-Bill-Call-for-Evidence-June-2026.pdf