'Holiday hunger' don't let the Manx Treasury make it worse!

Bearing in mind the decision of the Manx Treasury to bring back proposals for Employed Persons Allowance (EPA) in May I thought it would be useful to remind ourselves of the difficulties some families face in the school holiday period (see media links below). Although the focus was on the lengthy summer break there are of course equally lengthy times such as the two weeks over Easter. Also this Xmas media reported higher food bank demand.

The number of children eligible for free school meals has risen and was highlighted in Tynwald recently . Yey despite last years concerns at what food bank volunteers described as ‘holiday hunger’ no effort as far as I’m aware was made by government to address this issue.

The issue of holiday hunger of course does not only affect the recipients of EPA and it's not a phenomenon peculiar to the Isle of Man. However we are a small nation that prides itself on its spirit of community surely our Tynwald can address this issue.

We owe it to our young people to ensure that all are cared for and do not go hungry because parents are struggling to manage a working life with family commitments. This i why the Treasury focus should be on ensuring that children are free from want not introducing measures like the reform of EPA that make a difficult balance untenable.

Links:

BBC (IOM):

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-isle-of-man-41040460

Energy FM:

https://www.energyfm.net/cms/news_story_538953.html

Image: The "holidays can be very difficult time when children are not getting free school lunches" source BBC IOM report

Bernard Moffatt

Celtic League