Purpose

The Department for Education (DfE) have provided every local authority in England funding to coordinate free holiday provision, including healthy food and enriching activities for children eligible for benefits related free school meals (FSM).  Referred to as the Holiday Activities and Food Programme (HAF) the funding provided is to facilitate provision for the Easter, summer and Christmas Holidays. The County Council has an allocation of £1,786,330 for the delivery of the 2026-27 HAF programme.

Expressions of Interest (EOI) have been received from a range of organisations in West Sussex to provide activities and food during the Easter, summer and Christmas holiday periods. Following an evaluation of these EOI a range of organisations were awarded funding for one week of the Easter holidays; this resulted in the grant expenditure to providers of £301,672.

Provision for the summer holidays covers a 4-week period and authority is now sought to distribute the funding to organisations whose offer of a summer programme has met the required criteria. Approval is also required for the proposed arrangements for the remainder of the funding allocation the County Council will receive.

Decision

The Service Director (Education and Skills) has approved: -

(1) The award of Holiday Activities and Food (HAF) Programme summer grants to the organisations identified in Appendix A up to a total value of £1,028,050.

(2) The allocation of further HAF funds up to a value of £80,000 to assist providers with delivering the food offer in specific circumstances and to ensure inclusivity for children with higher needs as described in paragraph 2.4 of the report.

(3) The allocation of HAF funds to an anticipated value of £230,000 to providers for a programme for the Winter holiday period including the opportunity to provide some whole family sessions.