Holiday Activities and Food Programme

Holiday Activities and Food (HAF) Programme

The Holiday Activity and Food Programme (HAF) is a national programme that supports school age children and young people receiving benefits-related free school meals (FSM). Each local authority receives funding from the Department for Education (DfE) to deliver the HAF programme which provides eligible children with free access to holiday activities and a meal during the Easter, Summer and Winter school holidays.

HAF aims to improve outcomes for these children by offering healthy food and opportunities to participate in a range of activities during the school holidays and the DfE expect all

HAF programmes to offer:

• At least one healthy meal on each day of delivery that meets the School Food Standards.
• Fun and enriching activities that help children develop new skills and try new experiences.
• Physical activities that help children to stay active.
• Healthy eating and healthy lifestyle activities that help children to understand more about the benefits of healthy eating and nutrition.
• Information, signposting or referrals to other services that would benefit children and their families.

HAF in Lincolnshire

The HAF programme in Lincolnshire has been designed to ensure the programme meets the DfE’s programme requirements, providing Lincolnshire children and young people (CYP) eligible for HAF with access to fun and engaging, high-quality provision and healthy and nutritious meals over the main school holiday periods (Easter, Summer and Winter), as well as supporting them to develop a greater understanding of food and nutrition.

HAF in Lincolnshire is integrated into the Council’s Early Years and Childcare Support Team, overseen by the Sustainability and Development Manager and coordinated by a Senior Project Officer with support by two HAF Project Officers and the Council’s Children’s Services Strategic Commissioning Team.

HAF is communicated widely to many audiences to ensure that a variety of stakeholders have awareness of the programme. Communication strategies are delivered for providers and schools to ensure they have the necessary information to publicise HAF to eligible parents/carers and to assist with booking onto HAF funded sessions with the view to convert bookings to attendance.

Marketing strategies include, utilising internal communication systems, contacting mailing lists, issuing newsletters, sharing HAF flyers and utilising social media to raise awareness of HAF, particularly around key times such as prior to bookings launching and delivery commencing.

Over the HAF 2024-2025 programme, eligible CYP in Lincolnshire have accessed a wide range of different sports and enrichment activities which have included golf, cricket, archery, drama, music, arts and crafts, circus skills, day trips and food and nutrition education activities.

Over 70 approved providers have supported the delivery of HAF over the 2024-2025 delivery period, with more than 67,000 places available for eligible children and young people across 144 different locations and over 65% of HAF providers are Ofsted registered. Overall, there were 312 clubs across all three delivery periods (105 Easter 2024, 115 Summer 2024 and 92 Winter 2024).

Locations of the HAF clubs are monitored to ensure availability and sufficiency across the county.

HAF providers have included schools, early years settings (who provide before and/or after school and/or holiday provision), leisure centres (within the District Councils), voluntary and community sector, sports providers and other third-party providers.

A list of the providers who have supported the Council with the delivery of HAF in Lincolnshire can be found at Appendix A.

A number of providers delivering HAF were existing providers who had supported the delivery of HAF in the previous year. The Council has a robust process in place for commissioning providers to support the delivery of HAF which includes:

HAF Open Select List (OSL) process for third party providers (providers who are not schools or Ofsted registered early years providers) whereby providers had to apply to join the OSL and if approved were then invited to submit a mini-competition response which included their proposed HAF offer. Responses were evaluated against a pre-defined selection criteria.

Schools and early years settings submit an expression of interest to deliver HAF and the HAF Project Officers discussed their offer with the school or early years setting to ensure this was compliant with the aims and objectives for HAF.

HAF Agreements are in place with all providers who were external to the Council, with a pre-determined funding formula of £5 per hour per CYP per day or £10 per hour per CYP per day for CYP with special educational needs/and or disabilities (SEND) or additional needs. In addition, an allocation of £5 per CYP per day for a healthy meal and £1 per CYP per day for snack, where each day of HAF delivery was more than four hours in duration.

HAF providers were also able to apply for additional funding for further enrichment activities, e.g. day trips, visits to a pantomime or they required further additional funding to meet the needs of CYP with SEND and/or additional needs; where the allocated core funding was not sufficient to cover costs.

HAF clubs are quality assured on an annual basis which includes safeguarding and welfare checks, if any concerns are identified during the quality assurance visit, next steps are advised and providers are revisited at the next HAF delivery period.

The Quality Assurance also offers an opportunity to share best practice and identify any additional training opportunities for providers. Overall clubs delivering HAF during Winter 2024 were ‘Good’ in terms of performance and were rated ‘Green’ in relation to risk.

In addition to Quality Assurance visits, in 2024 Lincolnshire Young Inspectors visited 8 HAF providers and reported that sessions observed were delivered professionally and positively. Young Inspectors HAF Programme Inspection 2024 Report FINAL REVEIWED VERSION.pdf

Feedback from young people accessing HAF provision was positive with them reporting that they enjoyed the sessions, and the food provided was good.

Support for HAF providers including HAF resources

• A standardised cold and hot menu continues to be provided to HAF providers to support them with their HAF healthy meal delivery.
• Food Education Team provide support, guidance and training to HAF providers on meeting the School Food Standards, including caterers commissioned by HAF providers to support them in their food delivery.
• Training opportunities are available to HAF Providers to become more knowledgeable and confident in signposting to the Healthy Lifestyles Programme delivered by Gloji (One You Lincolnshire) and promoting Positive Oral Health.
• HAF resources are shared with providers to ensure they are kept up to date with key information and activity resources that can be used during delivery via newsletters, a HAF Provider Pack and via email prior to each delivery period.
• Providers are offered opportunities to upskill during HAF Learn and Share events, including attendance to marketplaces, connecting with the voluntary sector and engagement in various workshops.
• Activity Alliance delivered workshops to provide practical tools and resources to facilitate inclusive delivery of physical activity, supporting practitioners with the confidence, knowledge and skills to embed inclusive practices into settings.
• SEND workshop delivered by Aspens in the following areas, Autism & ADHD, Sensory processing, alternative communication methods, and strategies to support emotional regulation.
• Additional physical resources have continued to be provided to HAF providers to support them with their delivery of the HAF programme.
• Providers are also supported on an individual basis with HAF Project Officers assisting via telephone, email, in person and via MS Teams calls to assist with HAF queries.

HAF booking system

Since 2022 the Council has commissioned a HAF Booking System to streamline the booking process for HAF and the monitoring and reporting requirements of HAF take up. HAF E-vouchers are issued to eligible families by all schools, which is mainly an automatic process as the booking system is linked to schools’ management information systems (unless a school opts out of this process and chooses to issue the vouchers manually).

Families are then able to access the HAF Booking System via a link on the voucher and utilise the voucher code to book their child(ren) onto the available HAF provision. Schools are also able to issue vouchers up to 15% of their school cohort whereby they fall within the pre-determined and transparent vulnerable criteria and schools feel the identified CYP would benefit from HAF.

The HAF Booking System also helps to market HAF in Lincolnshire to eligible families through email communications.

HAF funding

In the 2024/2025 financial year Lincolnshire County Council received £2,776,760 HAF funding.

Funding was spent as follows:

Included within the face-to-face HAF provision expenditure is the 15% that the Council has the discretion to utilise to fund non-FSM CYP who would benefit from attending HAF.

The CYP were identified by either schools or the Council’s Early Help and Social Care teams as vulnerable (based on transparent criteria) and who would benefit from HAF. Overall, c.£360,168 was utilised to fund non-FSM CYP which is below the 15% tolerance.

Key priorities for Lincolnshire and key highlights

Ensuring sufficient levels of HAF provision across Lincolnshire was a key priority for the Council, and extensive mapping was undertaken, based on local intelligence about local supply and demand, to ensure as much provision as possible was made available to eligible children and young people, within the confines of the grant funding available.

Other key priorities for the Council during 2024-2025 HAF delivery included increasing the offer available for secondary aged young people and children and young people with special educational needs and/or disabilities/additional needs.

Children and young people’s attendance and provision of HAF places

The tables below showcase HAF attendance during 2024 and the volume of spaces taken up, respectively.

There has been a growth in secondary-age attendance, which has been a challenge for all Local Authorities across the country. This continues to be a priority area for Lincolnshire, and we will continue to work with the Children’s Commissioning Team to increase the secondary HAF offer as far as the funding envelope allows.

Number of Children and Young People with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) Accessing HAF provision.

There continues to be a high demand on HAF provision for CYP with SEND which remains a priority for Lincolnshire. We will also continue to work with the Children’s Commissioning Team to increase the SEND offer within the funding envelope available.

Healthy food

For each HAF delivery period a HAF hot menu is developed in partnership with the Council’s Food Education Team which is compliant with the School Food Standards. The agreed menu is then issued to all HAF providers with the expectation that they comply with the menu.

If a club is unable to comply with the menu, or wishes to utilise their own menu, this was submitted to the Council for agreement and checking for compliance with the School Food Standards. In addition, where a HAF provider was unable to provide a hot meal, they were able to access a HAF cold menu or submit a cold menu option to the Council which was also checked for compliance.

As part of the quality assurance visits the food offer was also checked to ensure this was compliant with the agreed menu and compliant with the School Food Standards.

The food available encouraged CYP to try different foods that they hadn’t previously tried, for example one parent said “Prior to attending HAF my child would only eat sausages, chicken nuggets, and pizza, no vegetables, no fruit and yet he’s come home, and I think he’s tried more food this week than he has in a whole year. I can’t tell you how proud and happy I am”.

Feedback from CYP on the food provision included:

• “I got to eat lots of watermelon, it’s my favourite”
• “Oh, I love this cereal. I like these mini ones. The big ones, shredded wheat are good too. It’s good for you isn’t it, so it’s healthy”
• “My breakfast was yummy, and I love reading my Mr Men book.”
• A CYP tried pasta meatballs for the first time and said, “I would give them a million out of a million”.
• “The best thing about HAF is the food”.
• “Broccoli is my favourite”

Parents had also commented:

• “I usually struggle to get the kids to eat breakfast, but they really enjoyed going to get their items and were excited to take them home.”
• Felt welcome, settled and said the food was lovely.
• The chance to swim and have a hot lunch is amazing.
• My child loves HAF club and enjoys all the activities they offer plus a healthy meal
• The meals were provided which saved us money and worries thinking about lunch. As children were always provided with good healthy meal options.

Feedback from CYP on the food available during a particular delivery period was taken into consideration when designing menus for the following delivery period.

Health and nutrition, enrichment and physical activities

A wide range of fully inclusive different activities were provided to CYP accessing HAF in Lincolnshire. Health and nutrition activities included taste testing, cookery sessions, discussions around healthy eating and healthy lifestyles embedded within HAF delivery and/or during lunchtime and snack times.

A wide range of different enrichment and physical activities were delivered through the HAF 2024 delivery period, with providers being provided with support, advice and guidance where required via the Council’s HAF Project Officers.

In addition, resources such as water bottles, dental packs, sporting equipment, arts and crafts materials, seed growing packs, food and nutrition education activity booklets, signposting information and leaflets (including recipe cards and oral health leaflets), reading books, personal care items and sanitary products were provided to support providers with the delivery of their activities.

Activities included, but not limited to:

• Dance, drama, archery, horse riding, music, archery, swimming, bushcraft, yoga, forest school and cooking and food preparation, gave children and young people the opportunity to try different things, some of which they hadn’t tried before.
• Visiting zoos, looking after hens, horse care, animal parks or working farm parks – providing children and young people with the opportunity to see different animals for the first time, learn about them, how to care for them and supporting them to develop positive behaviours.
• High ropes experience, where many of SEND children attending overcame such things as anxiety, practiced turn taking and patient waiting and persevered to move their safety clips along the course. They all were able to overcome their fears and complete it.
• Golf, cricket, football, basketball, dodgeball, tennis, which all encouraged CYP to try activities that were of varying intensities; keeping them active and limiting the time they remained sedentary.

Other feedback from the CYP on the activities available included:

• “I loved learning how to cut a mango correctly & safely”
• “I enjoyed meeting old friends and making new friends”
• “I like coming to HAF because I like the staff and I like the animals that came. I like playing pool and den building and the trampoline”
• “I enjoyed making my own board game”
• I’m really happy to be here, I like meeting the new people and making friends, I’ve made loads when here. I really enjoy different activities both active and crafts, it’s a lot of fun! I like the food.
• I’ve really enjoyed today and would return again for more days, which I hope I am! The arts and crafts are really good fun and I like the practical activities except when it’s cold outside. I had a good time and made friends.
• I was nervous when I first arrived as I didn’t know what to expect but I really enjoyed myself and want to come again!
• Everything was fun, I liked playing football and doing the crafts the Christmas decorations were my favourite. The food is very tasty too!

Feedback from parents/carers included:

• " I would like to say What a fantastic service. My family would be completely lost without this service due to needing support in holidays, especially when my daughter is in hospital. Without this support, I wouldn’t be able to continue the care I need to provide. The staff are absolutely fabulous at what they do. I haven’t found any other provider that offers the exceptional outstanding service in my area. Specially in emergencies, they are extremely accommodating, considerate and understanding towards our needs. My son has excelled with his communication education and behaviour. My son suffers ADHD & Autism, with the staffs extensive experience my son has developed leaps and bounds.”
• “I am truly grateful for this service, I’m hoping this will continue”
• “Just wanted to say a huge thank you for yet another holidays made happier by the activities you run! As our daughter has such high anxiety and struggles to be around people she doesn’t know, we’ve always found any clubs hard. However, she loves Jacob’s Den and not only does she feel confident enough to attend regularly, she really enjoys being around the other children, no matter how loud or boisterous and in fact, she thrives knowing she can help some of the children who find it most tricky to be with others!”
• “The ponies are obviously her favourite, along with the outdoors, and the education where you’ve brought in farriers and horse dentists etc. but knowing she’s made some friends who she loves seeing each holiday and bumping into in between, has really been the icing on the cake! Huge thanks again!”

Partnerships

Lincolnshire HAF is heavily invested in partnership working with both LCC colleagues and external organisations to provide HAF participants with exciting new experiences and opportunities.

The below table demonstrates the partnership work during 2024:

Public Health also contributed dental packs to HAF Providers to distribute to their HAF participants to promote brushing teeth in support of the dental crisis in Lincolnshire.
Overall, over £43,000 of added value was brought to HAF in Lincolnshire through our partnerships.

Some investments are not quantifiable in funding, but the value of the support provided by our partners in order to ensure CYP in Lincolnshire were able to access additional fun and enriching activities during HAF 2024 delivery.

Key learning and next steps

HAF in Lincolnshire has grown significantly, and partnerships have also strengthened. The delivery of HAF is well-established in Lincolnshire with a high number of different providers continuing to support the delivery of HAF during the 2025/26 financial year.

It is recommended that SEND and secondary-specific provision continues to be a key area for development in Lincolnshire. In May 2025, the HAF Open Select List (OSL) re-opened for third party providers with a specific focus on secondary-specific and SEND clubs. This has resulted in a further nine approved HAF providers added to the HAF OSL and a further six secondary-specific clubs and SEND-specific clubs (some providers are delivering across more than one club) for Summer HAF 2025 delivery, with a further three potential SEND specific clubs still to be confirmed.

The funding for HAF 2025 delivery will be fully maximised, with provision grown as much as it can do within the funding envelope available. The HAF Team will also continue to be creative with partnerships to further increase the number of CYP who can benefit from HAF. For example, through a collaboration with the Bread and Butter Thing charity, which will uplift non-FSM delivery in Grantham, Stamford, and Bourne this summer via Comic Relief funding.

There will also be a key focus on the level of engagement from schools in encouraging CYP to attend HAF provision, including increasing marketing and advertising activities. Schools will be encouraged to identify a named person within the school, suggested to emulate the Wraparound Programme Lead role who will take ownership of the “out of school childcare” offer. This will include HAF and therefore ensure a consistent approach to disseminating key messages to parents and Children and Young People.

Appendix A – HAF providers 2024

• Acorn Childcare Centre
• Aspire (Alford)
• Bright Beginnings (Lincs) Ltd
• Brightsparks (Potterhanworth)
• Brightstars
• Daisy Chain Nursery
• Emma Clayton (Childminder)
• Eslaforde Nursery
• First Timers Pre-School
• Gainsborough Adventure Playground
• Hartsholme Pre-School and Kids Club
• Holy Trinity Pre-School
• I Learn (Caistor)
• Lambs Holiday Cabin (Lambs Afterschool and Holiday Club)
• Limes Play and Learn
• Madcaps
• Nini Childcare 
• RAFA KIDZ
• Riverside Early Years Playgroup
• Smartie Pants (Bardney)
• Smartie Pants (Mablethorpe)
• Smartie Pants (Sutton Bridge)
• Smartie Pants (Sutton on Sea)
• Smartie Pants (Tetney)
• The Bythams After School
• The Home Nursery
• The Little Acorns Day Nursery
• Town and Country Nursery
• Yellow Brick Road (Bracebridge Heath)
• Yellow Brick Road (Metheringham)
• Bardney Primary School School
• Market Rasen Primary School
• Monks Abbey Primary School
• Moulton Chapel Primary School
• North Somercotes Primary School
• Priory Lincoln Academy
• Priory Witham Academy School
• Skegness Grammar School
• St Faith and St Martin Primary School
• The Pilgrim School
• Wragby Primary School
• Active Arena
• Third Party
• Acts Trust 
• Boston United CF
• Third Party
• Children's Links 
• Discovery Sports Coaching
•  Elite Sports Academy (ESA) 
• Endeavour (Banovallum YP only) Climbing Centre
• Gainsborough Trinity Foundation 
• Green Synergy
• Imagination Gaming
• Inspire+
• Jacob's Den CIC 
• JB's Sports Coaching
• Junior Adventures Group (JAG)
• Koala Klubs1 Ltd
• Land and Leaf 
• Lex Leisure CIC
• Lincoln City Foundation
• Lincolnshire Farm
• Lincolnshire YMCA
• MACCA
• Magna Vitae
• Naomi's Garden (The Kings Outreach)
• One Touch Football
• Premier Education (MSP)
• Special Olympics Lincolnshire
• Sport2day
• Step Out Stay Out
• Strong Girl Squad
• Synergy Sports Coaching
• Tonic Health
• Wildcats Theatre School