Holiday Activities and Food Programme

Children and young people are able to access a minimum of 4 days of HAF activities over the Easter and Christmas holidays, and 16 days over the summer holidays. 

To be eligible for a free place, children and young people must be:

• in reception to Year 11 ; and
• resident in Brent or attending a Brent school; and
• either eligible for and in receipt of benefits-related free school meals or have had their eligibility confirmed by a professional.

Children and families who are not in receipt of benefits-related free school meals but who have had their eligibility confirmed by a professional are also able to attend the HAF programme. The full eligibility list for children and young people who do not receive free school meal can be viewed on GOV.UK.

Please note, siblings of children who meet the above criteria may also be able to access Brent HAF programme places, subject to provider capacity.

We welcome expressions of interest from local partner organisations that can help deliver the Brent HAF programme, ensuring that the below DfE standards and requirements are met: 

• healthy meals: provide at least one healthy meal a day and must meet the  School Food Standards throughout the day. The expectation is that the food served by providers should be hot, although we acknowledge that there may be times (e.g. trips), where cold food is most appropriate.
• enriching activities: provide fun and enriching activities that give children opportunities to develop or consolidate skills or knowledge.
• physical activities: offer activities that meet Physical Activity Guidelines on a daily basis
• nutritional education: provide daily activities aimed at improving children’s knowledge and awareness of healthy eating, e.g. trying new food, getting children involved in cooking.
• Food education for families and carers: HAF providers should make available weekly training and advice sessions for parents, carers or other family members. These should provide advice on how to source, prepare and cook nutritious and low-cost food. 
• Signposting and referrals: provide information, signposting or referrals to other services, and support that would benefit the children who attend their provision and their families. 
• Policies and procedures: providers must be able to demonstrate and explain their safeguarding arrangements and have relevant and appropriate policies and procedures in place in relation to: safeguarding, health and safety, insurance, accessibility and inclusiveness. Where appropriate, clubs must also be compliant with the Ofsted requirements for working with children. 

If you are interested in being part of the Brent HAF Programme, please outline your proposal by completing an expression of interest form. We are interested in expressions of interest from consortia, but please indicate if you would like help to identify a partner to work with. 

You can request a copy of the expression of interest form, and additional application information, by emailing HAF@brent.gov.uk.

We will use the information you provide on the expression of interest form to award the grant funding in an efficient, open and transparent way according to the DfE HAF programme standards, aims, objectives and stipulated funding criteria. Applications will be assessed by a panel of council officers, and scored out of 5 against the following criteria:

• Each of the 7 HAF standards and DfE requirements outlined above.
• Value for money.
• Links to Brent and / or the Brent community.
• Equality, diversity and inclusion.

We will let you know if your expression of interest for funding has been successful as soon as possible after your proposal has been reviewed. Please submit expressions of interest for the Christmas holidays as soon as possible and by midnight on 24 October 2022. 

We will require organisations receiving funding to provide us with key performance data for monitoring purposes, e.g. on the number of children who attend who are eligible for benefits-related free school meals.

You can find more information about the HAF programme on the Department for Education’s website.

If you work with children and young people who receive benefits related free schools meals, please share information on the programme with them and their families, to encourage them to access the offer. Parents of children who receive benefits related free school meals should receive confirmation of HAF eligibility via the supermarket vouchers that are funded via the government’s Household Support Fund.

If you work with children and young people who don’t receive benefits related free schools meals, but you believe that they could benefit from the programme, they may be able to access a HAF programme place if they meet the other HAF programme eligibility criteria. Children and young people who don’t receive free school meals but may be considered as otherwise eligible include:

• children assessed by the local authority as being in need, at risk or vulnerable
• young carers
• looked-after children or previously looked after children
• children with an EHC (education, health and care) plan
• children who have low attendance rates at school or who are at risk of exclusion
• children living in areas of high deprivation or from low-income households who are not in receipt of free school meals
• children in transition phases between nursery and primary school or primary and secondary school.

To refer children and young people into the HAF programme, please provide them with written confirmation of their HAF eligibility, confirming whether they are accessing the programme via their FSM entitlement or via the otherwise eligible category. Children, young people and families will then be able to use this when booking a place.