Following delivery of another successful programme in 2021, the DfE have announced over £200 million a year for the continuation of the Holiday Activities and Food (HAF) programme from 2022-25.

Leicestershire County Council, working with Active Together (formerly LeicesterShire and Rutland Sport), are coordinating the Department for Education funded Holiday Activities & Food Programme, across Leicestershire in 2023.

The Leicestershire HAF Programme is specifically targeted to offer holiday activities to school aged children (5 to 16 years) who are eligible for benefits-related Free School Meals.

Leicestershire County Council will be working with partners to award funding to Leicestershire schools, charities, voluntary and community sector organisations and other out of school and holiday activity organisations to deliver HAF holiday provision for children eligible for benefits-related free school meals during the Easter, Summer and Christmas 2023 holiday periods, in line with DfE guidance.

The aim is that the children who attend the provision will be supported:

• to eat more healthily over the school holidays;
• to be more active during the school holidays;
• to take part in engaging and enriching activities;
• to be safe and not to be socially isolated;
• to have greater knowledge of health and nutrition; and
• to be more engaged with school and other local services.

We would like to make prospective Leicestershire HAF providers aware of changes to the application process that are now in effect.

In line with procurement regulations, we have now moved to a Dynamic Purchasing System (DPS) for awarding contracts to HAF providers for the remainder of the current 3 year programme, which ends in December 2024.

Tenders must be submitted to gain a place on the DPS and tender rounds will be periodically closed to allow tender submissions to be evaluated and places on the DPS awarded.

Tender opportunities will be published on the East Midlands Tenders Procurement Portal (link below).

Any providers interested in applying must register interest in the opportunity via the link below for the East Midlands E-tendering Portal.

If you are not already registered as a provider on EastMidsTenders, you can complete a simple registration process by clicking on the 'Register free' link below the green button.

If you have any queries, please email: haf@leics.gov.uk

Organisations interested in applying for HAF funding can view a heat map which shows the numbers of free school meals eligible children at each school.

The heat map is available below.

The document below provides a summary of the updated standards for the HAF programme, in terms of the expectations from organisations who are applying to deliver school holiday HAF programmes.

This includes standards relating to the following areas of provision:

• Food
• Enriching Activities
• Physical Activities
• Nutritional Education
• Food Education (for families and carers)
• Signposting and referrals
• Policies and procedures
• Safeguarding

Organisations planning to apply to the Leicestershire HAF programme are advised to read the updated standards document to ensure their proposed provision is able to meet these standards.

For more information about the Healthy Activities and Food Programme 2022, you can contact the individuals below:

Mala Razak
Children and Families Partnership Manager
Leicestershire County Council
Email: mala.razak@leics.gov.uk
Tel: (0116) 3058055 or 07904 547924

Geoff Maltby
Sports Development Manager
Active Together
Email: G.Maltby@active-together.org
Tel: 01509 564870

Jo M Fisher
Childcare Sufficiency and Development Team Manager
Early Years Inclusion and Childcare Service
Email: jo.fisher@leics.gov.uk
Tel: (0116) 3056566