Purpose

Initially childrens services used free school meal codes to check eligibility for young people who wanted to access a HAF provision and manually supported providers with this. This initially worked well, although due to changes within the criteria for eligible children, the codes would no longer be fit for purpose therefore other solutions would be required to continue to ensure the eligibility of the young people.
The decision to commission EEQU is that their service was recommended by several other LA’s who use this system, and they are also on G cloud which is a complaint route to market due to the framework and the additional compliance this provides. The provider also has cyber essentials and quality standards.
From September 2026, children who are currently eligible for HAF through benefits-related Free School Meals will be identified under Targeted Free School Meals. Many children who currently access Universal Free School Meals will instead fall under the new Expanded Free School Meals category.
And as mentioned a consequence of these changes, we will therefore no longer be able to rely solely on HAF codes to determine HAF eligibility. We will consequently need to introduce alternative methods of verifying eligibility to ensure that HAF places continue to be allocated correctly and meet programme requirements set
by the funders DfE. One approach that has been recommended by the Department for Education and is already being used by a large number of HAF teams across other local authorities is the use of a central booking system.
This does need to be in place with some urgency due to the tight timescales and also to procure at a cheaper rate. Providers and staff also need to be trained on how to use the system, which will require being fully commissioned at the very
latest by the 28th October 2026.

Decision

It is proposed that Eequ will deliver a booking system for the HAF project due to the changes in booking and eligibility criteria set by the DfE The system will empower parents to find services and manage their bookings independently. Eequ has been designed for councils to operate their HAF programme providing a unified system for parents and providers.
EEQU handle all the data analytics to give good insights and produce the mandatory HAF report required by DfE.
The system will:
· Replacing HAF Codes: Eequ replaces reliance on HAF codes by checking eligibility within the platform using FSM data / the DfE checker, while still allowing parents to request bookings even if they are not automatically matched at first.
· Managing Listings: Providers would manage their own listings, dates, cancellations, and responses, while the council would still be able to jump into accounts if needed.
· Provider Setup: Providers get a single guided onboarding link and a step-by-step setup flow, with initial setup taking about half an hour plus live training support.
· Eligibility Checking: Standard eligibility checks are automated, while unmatched bookings are flagged as eligibility pending for council review and discretionary decisions.
· Eligibility List Management: Doncaster can use the DfE checker for the eligibility list and then correct mismatched child details in the system so bookings can still be processed.
· Outsourcing: The local authority can still have access to the platform even where
system management is outsourced (although we do not intend to outsource this)
Managing a large and changing provider base:. Provider setup is designed to be repeatable, with listings reused across deliveries and new providers supported through regular training webinars.
TGB approval has been gained and the DPA has been signed off also.

Alternative options considered

N/A