If Laura Waters didn’t have a summer holiday project nearby where her three children, Scott, 12, Aiden, seven and Declan, six, are fed, supervised and entertained five days a week, she would “have no idea what we would do,” she says.

Waters, who lives in south-west Glasgow with her partner and sons, is not working – any job she can find would bring in less than the cost of childcare, she says – and because her partner has only been able to get part-time work, they are living hand to mouth. “At the moment, we have to scrape by on part-time wages and tax credits. It’s barely enough, so the summer holidays don’t mean trips abroad or days out – they mean worrying about being able to feed everyone”, she says.

In Scotland mothers are able to tell of one of the most difficult summers yet for parents in socially deprived areas

In Scotland, the summer holidays began in June and schoolchildren now have only a week left before they return – so mothers like Waters are able to tell a tale of one of the most difficult summers yet for parents in socially deprived areas like hers. “Our tax credits have been cut”, she says. “I know a lot of mums in this area who have had their benefits cut too, or sanctioned. Some have been to food banks this summer. Some are too proud, but they’re making choices like, shall I feed the meter or the kids, or shall I go without food myself to make sure they have something?”.

The holiday club Waters’s three children attend between 10am and 3pm is one of many projects in Scotland set up either by charities or local councils. She describes the meal they receive there as “a lifesaver”. , but the social aspect is important too. “There’s nothing for kids in this area. I don’t want them hanging about the streets. At least at the club I know they’re safe.” she says.

Celebrating its 10th birthday this summer, the club based at Barrhead high school and Eastwood high school, was set up after a local boy on free school meals was caught stealing food from a shop during the school holidays. It is funded and run by East Renfrewshire council. Loraine Lawrie, facilities management quality manager at the council, says: “It’s like a family. We all sit down, with adults at each table. It’s about the food – but it’s also about everyone eating together, and that’s how the kids learn. Some of them rarely use cutlery, because at home they may be eating takeaways with their hands.”

Lindsay Graham, UK school food and health policy adviser and chair of the all party parliamentary group’s holiday hunger task group agrees that projects like this aren’t just about feeding children. “They’re also about nurture, routine and structure,” she says. “The UK has invested billions of pounds in school meals. However, in the holidays, that really valuable investment in the next generation just stops.”

There are around 1.7 million children in the UK eligible for free school meals, who could be going without a daily meal during school holidays. There are on average 170 no-school days a year in the UK. Graham has found hundreds of organisations helping pupils on a local level, often using existing staff and resources such as public buildings, schools and community venues, but she says they are all frustrated that there is not more government support. “No single government department will take responsibility for this, and, while it is an age-old problem, austerity means that it’s getting worse,” she says.

A report released last month on holiday hunger, based on a study of 580 low- and middle-income parents, found that 62% of parents on less than £25,000 a year can’t always afford food in holidays; for parents with incomes of less than £15,000 the figure rose to 73%, while 41% of parents in low-income families had skipped meals during holidays so that their children could eat.

The research, carried out in England, Scotland and Wales on behalf of Kellogg’s, echoes Waters’ experiences, with 24% of parents prioritising food over paying a household bill, 14% serving smaller meals during the school holidays to keep costs down, and 38% saying that they’d bought cheaper – and perhaps less healthy – food. In addition, 22% said they had avoided having their children’s friends over and 17% hadn’t invited family to their house during the holidays due to a lack of money and food.

The report, Isolation and Hunger: the reality of the school holidays for struggling families, also highlights the isolation experienced by parents unable to afford to go out and entertain their children and who end up stuck at home.

Lisa Ewart lives in Ardrossan, in south-west Scotland, with her husband Stephen, who works part-time, and three children, Letisha, 13, Brendyn, 10 and Alister, nine. They receive benefits – although they are bracing for themselves for the cut in tax credits. “The summer holidays are tough this year. There’s no way we can afford any activities on top of extra food shopping. But the kids, especially Alister, who has autism, need to be busy, they need to be in a routine, and they need food in their tummies”, she says.

Thankfully Ewart’s children have been attending a local project called Make A Meal of It. There is another in neighbouring Ardeer.

Craig Crosthwaite, who co-ordinates Make A Meal Of It, says they have been busy over the summer. “We’re open 11am to 1pm and this year we’ve reached full quota [25 meals a day on each site]. But we’re not a soup kitchen for kids. It has to be an hour of activity first, like sport, or craft, and then an hour for the meal,” he says. “What we don’t want to do is embed a sense of poverty in the minds of these young people – who knows how that could affect them as they grow up.”

The two projects are supported by Make Lunch, a network of churches offering free lunches to children in the holidays.

Crosthwaite explains that by teaming up with Make Lunch, not only is there quality assurance, but they become part of a UK-wide research programme that Make Lunch will be undertaking to learn more about the scale and nature of holiday hunger.

Graham welcomes research like this. “There needs to be a thorough investigation. Holiday meals and enrichment isn’t for every school or community but where there is a need, support should be available. Under the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child we are failing to provide children’s right to food.”

Earlier this year, the then Scottish first minister Alec Salmond announced free school meals for all children regardless of income for the first three years of primary school in Scotland, which, the Scottish government says, aims to “support the development of young people and tackle inequalities in society, including the scourge of child poverty”. It estimates this is saving parents around £380 a year.

So is the Scottish government planning to put money into tackling holiday hunger? A Holyrood spokeswoman says: “We want to do much more and we will consider all proposals in our work to tackle child poverty where it occurs.”

Jackie Brock, chief executive of the charity Children in Scotland, says that policies are in place on food and wellbeing in term-time, making Scotland well placed to step up action. “Scotland has gone a long way to address hunger for young children during term-time, but we now need to focus on how we can support families during holidays when pressures are most intense”, she says.

In 2014, research by Kellogg’s found that more than a third of teachers in the UK noticed pupils lost weight during the summer break and it launched a holiday breakfast club programme.

Graham is confident that Scotland will be the first place in the UK where improvement happens. She wants more research, investment in a fund to beat holiday hunger and a framework for supporting communities to deliver programmes. “From my experience in policy and practice around school food, wellbeing and education in Scotland, the local and national relationships are more cohesive than the rest of the UK – and more likely to be in a good place to help make holiday provision happen more quickly, should they decide to do it,” she says.

Graham visited the East Renfrewshire programme last week. “I saw 120 kids sit down and have lunch together – it restores your faith in human nature and shows what’s possible with effort”, she says. “There are projects like this popping up all over Scotland, and the rest of the UK – but now the government has to step up. If 2015 is going to be the worst summer yet for holiday hunger, let’s make it the year that something changes, too.”