Information for providers

The Holiday Activities and Food (HAF) programme is funded by the Department for Education. It provides free meals and activities during the school holidays for school aged children from reception to year 11 (inclusive) who are eligible for benefits-related free school meals.

Funding from the HAF programme is available to schools, childcare providers, voluntary and community groups. You can find out more about the programme on the GOV.UK website.

Becoming a HAF provider

Applications for grants for 2023 have now closed.

This page will be updated when we open for applications for funding for delivery for 2024.

To find out more about the national HAF programme please go to DfE HAF guidance.

HAF requirements

To be eligible for funding, your provision must meet the HAF Programme’s framework of standards. This includes:

• 1 hour of physical activity per day. This could be a sport, game, walk or free outdoor play
• enrichment activities
• food
• nutritional education
• support for children and their families

The provision must also be:

• inclusive for children with Special Educational Needs or Disabilities (SEND)
• provided in person, following COVID-19 guidance, not online

The provision must be available for children, young people and their families for 4 hours per day, 4 days per week for:

• 1 week of the Easter holidays
• 4 weeks of the summer holidays
• 1 week of the Christmas holidays

If your provision does not meet all of the required standards but you'd like to be part of the HAF programme, we may be able to support you. For example, if you're not able to provide food, we may be able to connect you with local providers.

Documents and policies

If your application is successful, we’ll need to see some documents before we can provide funding. This includes:

• a safeguarding policy
• insurance certificates
• a health and safety policy
• a fire safety and evacuation plan
• a GDPR policy
• a complaints and whistleblowing policy
• DBS checks
• training certificates
• You must make sure that these documents are up to date.

Contact

You can email HAFGrant@bradford.gov.uk with any queries.