Parents of children with additional support needs (ASN) have expressed disappointment at the lack of new funding for the Holiday Hubs scheme in the Edinburgh City Council budget.
The scheme provides play-based activities throughout the school holidays for children affected by disability and is seen as a huge help to parents.
Currently, disabled children have access to up to four weeks in a calendar year, with schools having an average of 12 weeks of holidays per year.
The stagnation in funding will mean that despite requests doubling, the number of children accessing the scheme will not increase, and the average weeks per pupil will be reduced from four per year to two.
Speaking before the full council meeting on 20 February, one parent of a child with ASN said: “I’m here before you feeling broken, dejected, and not heard or understood by you, our elected councillors, on the importance of holiday hubs.”
Labour councillor Mandy Watt said: “The people who have spoken to me about this passionately, I absolutely hear what they say.
“We have been told that even putting more money in this year would not provide more places, and it would not provide more places fairly – places for children with the most needs.”
“Edinburgh Council building – geograph.org.uk – 1315978” by kim traynor is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.