Nine freebies and up to £1,700 free cash families on Universal Credit and benefits can claim towards summer holidays
The summer break can be a difficult time for parents as they end up spending more on things like childcare, food and activities.
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But there is always help available, and here we've rounded up everything you can get.
Claim back childcare costs
Universal Credit claimants may be able to claim back up to 85% of their childcare costs.
This can include nurseries, preschools, after-school clubs, breakfast clubs, childminders, nannies and holiday clubs.
To be eligible you (or your partner, if you live with them) must be working or have a job offer.
It does not matter how many hours you or your partner work.
The most you can get back each month is £1,031.88 for one child, or £1,768.94 for two or more children.
You have to pay the childcare costs upfront and then report them to Universal Credit, which will pay some of the money back afterwards.
Get free childcare
You can also get free childcare if your child is a certain age.
All three and 4-year-olds are eligible for 15 hours of free childcare per week, regardless of whether their parents work or how much they earn.
Plus, parents of two-year-olds can get 15 hours of free childcare if they're on Universal Credit and have a household income of below £15,400 a year.
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Get free food from charities
Some charities are running schemes and programmes across the UK providing lunch clubs and food related activities.
These include FareShare, Make Lunch and FeedingBritain.
FareShare is providing surplus food to thousands of after school and holiday clubs, as well as other children's charities.
Make Lunch works with local churches to help provide nutritious meals and fun activities for families.
FeedingBritain works across the UK to give food to people in need. You can find out what's available in your area here - https://feedingbritain.org/about-us/where-we-work/.
Am I entitled to Universal Credit?
According to the GOV website, if you're on a low income or need help with your living costs, then you could be entitled to Universal Credit.
To claim, you must live in the UK, be aged 18 or over (with some exceptions if you're 15 to 17), be under State Pension age, and have £16,000 or less in money, savings and investments.
Other circumstances are if you are out of work, or unable to work, for example because of a health condition.
Use food banks
If you're struggling to afford the cost of food, you may be able to get help from your local food bank.
You're usually referred to the food bank by Citizens Advice, your doctor or local charities.
They will often provide you with a voucher to use at the food bank, but each one works differently so you should check what you need to do at your nearest one.
You can find your nearest food bank by going on the Trussell website, or the Independent Food Network or Salvation Army centres.
Holiday Activities and Food (HAF) programme
A Government scheme called the Holiday Activities and Food (HAF) programme provides free food, childcare, sports, music and arts clubs to low income households during the school holidays.
Local authorities are responsible for administering the scheme which means what exactly is on offer depends on where you live.
Most offer help to families with children in receipt of benefits-related free school meals, but local councils are also allowed to offer help to children outside of this group.
The application process and what help you can get varies based on where you live so you should check with your local council.
Get charity funding towards a holiday
Some charities offer help with the costs of a holiday.
For example, the Family Holiday Charity offers funded holidays to low-income households with self-catered accommodation for up to four nights and well as a contribution towards travel and food costs.
The funding is available for households with an income of less than £24,000 who have not had a holiday together in the last four years and have at least one child under 18 who will go.
Meanwhile the Henry Smith Foundation has a Holiday Grants Programme that offers one-off grants for schools, youth groups and non-profit organisations to take children aged 13 and under on short trips.
See if you're eligible for a grant
The charity Turn 2 Us has a tool on its website that lets you search to see if you're eligible for any free grants.
All you need to do is spend a few minutes answering some questions and the tool will then match your information to grants that might be suitable for you.
You can find the tool here: https://grants-search.turn2us.org.uk/.
Look for free activities
Some charities also run free holiday activities for disadvantaged children.
They include Family Action, Feeding Britain, Onside Youth Zones, Street Games, TLG (Transforming Lives for Good).
Plus there's the Summer Reading Challenge, a free scheme encouraging children to read more books over the summer through their local library.
You can sign up at your nearest library or online.
Household Support Fund (HSF)
Every council in England has cash to dole out to support residents who are struggling to afford essentials with the Government's Household Support Fund.
The £742million scheme hands councils up and down the country to give households in need.
Each local authority gets a different portion of funding depending on the size of the catchment area, population, and number of vulnerable households.
The voucher or grant amounts vary by location, so you must check to see what you can get and how your council will pay you.
There are different criteria for applications too, but often councils specify that you will need to be in receipt of benefits such as Universal Credit.
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