Milton Keynes City Council has announced details for its 2026 summer Holiday Activities and Food programme, which offers free enrichment sessions and hot meals to local children eligible for benefit-related free school meals. The programme is set to run from 27 July to 20 August 2026, and the council is currently seeking local providers to deliver the activities.
The scheme is part of a national effort supported by the Department for Education, which has committed to a three-year funding settlement through 2029. Eligible families will receive e-vouchers to book up to four sessions. The council ensures the programme remains inclusive, with specific provisions available for children with special educational needs and disabilities, a group that represented approximately 35 per cent of attendees in the 2024-2025 period.
This initiative builds on previous success in the city, where more than 3,500 children participated in the 2025 summer programme. During that period, the council worked with 47 providers to host over 24,000 individual activity sessions, ranging from sports camps and mobile farms to arts and crafts. Councillor Joe Hearnshaw, Cabinet Member for Children and Young People, has noted the importance of the programme in helping local families by providing opportunities to build confidence and try new activities.
While the government has announced that eligibility for standard free school meals will expand in September 2026 to include all children in households receiving Universal Credit, the criteria for the holiday programme will remain tied to the existing benefit-related threshold for the 2026-2027 delivery year. This means that families who become newly eligible for school meals this autumn may not automatically qualify for the holiday activity support.
Interested service providers can find more information about the programme and the application process on the Milton Keynes City Council website.
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