School holiday programmes are being labelled as too expensive by organisers.

Mangere East Family Services used to run holiday programmes, but CEO Peter Sykes says the high costs forced them to stop.

"The costs and risks of keeping a group of children together and getting the right staff and staff ratios just makes it not worthwhile."

Sykes says safety is another concern.

He says holiday programmes which receive Government funding have to have staff which meet the same quality of care as those at schools.

"So even your so-called 'volunteers', your core structure has to meet the safety needs [...] volunteers don't need to be vetted but the overall programme does."

He says they are expensive for parents too with the average price per kid ranging from $15 -$100 a day.

LISTEN ABOVE AS PETER SYKES SPEAKS WITH ANDREW DICKENS