A salon is offering free haircuts to disadvantaged children.

The Tanning and Hair Spa in Sittingbourne High Street is hosting the special service from Friday, August 5 to support just some of the 30,000 youngsters from low-income families in Swale.

Working alongside the Street Soccer Foundation homeless charity, the hairdressers will also be helping to fundraise £8,000 for free holiday club games and activities for kids in the town.

Organiser Carole Rawlinson, who works for the foundation, thinks it’s a crucial time to support young people in need.

She said: “At the moment everybody is hitting hard times with bills going up.

“Obviously if kids are going into school with long hair, dirty hair, they can get bullied and it’s a knock on effect for the family. This service is just a nice thing to do for the community.

“It’s an expense for parents just to buy food, let alone get their kids’ hair cut.”

With everyone facing the same financial crisis the salon also wants to help keep the High Street and all its business thriving too.

Vijay Lowdell, from the hairdressers, said: “With everything going up the cost of living is really high so there are a lot of families that are struggling and are on the breadline at the moment.

“This is a way of getting people back into the High Street as well because there isn’t a lot down this end of town.”

Businesses in the High Street are also supporting the scheme and fundraiser.

Jeannette Elliot, from Elliot Kitchens and Bathrooms, has donated bathroom furniture worth £400 to help raise money for the holiday club.

She said: “They need to get out and socialise.

“Whether they’re deprived or they’ve got lots of money they need to be talking to other children.

“They’re all equal, they’re all kids. So they need to talk to one another.”