Guidance on the Christmas Holiday Activities and Food (HAF) Programme Grant

Introduction

School holidays can be pressure points for some families because of increased costs (such as food and childcare) and reduced incomes. For some children, that can lead to a holiday experience gap – where some are less likely to access organised out-of-school activities, more likely to experience ‘unhealthy holidays’ in terms of nutrition and physical health, and more likely to experience social isolation.

To address this, The Department for Education is providing funding to local authorities to coordinate a holiday programme that provides healthy food and enriching activities to benefit entitled Free School Meals recipients during the School Holidays.

Tower Hamlets want to commission a rich and diverse programme of Holiday activities offering food delivered by organisations from the private, voluntary and public sector that respond to local need.

If you are interested in delivering a HAF programme, please read the following guidance to see if you can meet the delivery requirements and complete a HAF application form by no later than 11.59pm, Sunday 13 September.

Delivery dates

Christmas delivery must fall within Saturday 19 December 2026 to Sunday 3 January 2027.

General guidance

This part of the guidance sets out some of the key facts about the Department for Education Funded Holiday Activities Food (HAF) Grant Programme and some of the main points to consider before you decide to apply for funding.

Eligibility

The HAF Grant Programme is to fund the delivery of holiday activities/schemes and programmes that will benefit Tower Hamlets residents.

Funding is available to:

• voluntary and community organisations
• registered charities, including charitable incorporated organisations
• registered not-for-profit companies
• schools
• registered community interest companies
• faith-based groups, where the funding is for inclusive activity that is open to all.

Funding is not available to:

• individuals
• sole traders
• profit making companies
• political organisations

Supporting documentation

To be eligible for grant funding, applicants must be able to provide the following supporting documents:

• Constitution or Articles of Association
• Risk assessment
• Approved Accounts or Record of Income and Expenditure
• Bank Statement dated within the last 3 months, displaying the account in the organisation’s name, address, account number, and sort code
• Up to date Equality & Diversity Policy relevant to the nature of delivery
• Up to date Safeguarding Policy relevant to the nature of delivery
• Up to date Health and Safety Policy relevant to the nature of delivery
• Insurance policies, including:
  • Evidence of Employer's Liability Insurance £5,000,000
  • Public and Products Liability £5,000,000
  • Professional Indemnity £2,000,000 (if applicable)
• Accessibility and Inclusiveness Policy
• Ofsted registration and approval (if delivering to those under 8 years old and does not meet any exemptions).

Additionally, please be aware that organisations currently receiving similar funding from the council may not be eligible to apply. Verify eligibility with the awarding grants team for that grant before submitting your application.

We will not be able to progress the following applications:

• Applications proposing to partner with an organisation or individual that has also separately applied for LBTH HAF funding
• Applicant has previously failed to meet grant conditions (or has an ongoing dispute etc, has had funding withdrawn/requested to be repaid, etc)
• Applicants who cannot demonstrate that they operate from a registered address in Tower Hamlets (PO boxes do not fulfil this criteria).

Purpose of the HAF Grant

The purpose of the grant is to make free places at holiday clubs available during the school holidays. This will be made available to children in the local authority area who are eligible for and receive benefits-related free school meals.

Note, that in previous programmes, children eligible for the programme in Tower Hamlets were issued a HAF code by the council. Tower Hamlets no longer issues HAF codes.

Instead, eligibility will be checked via the Plinth eligibility checker.

All provision funded by the local authority through the HAF programme must meet the framework of standards and delivery expectations (as set out in this document) and meet the following core aims and objectives:

Core aims and objectives

(Refers to Experience and Delivery Plan section in the Application Form)

As a result of this programme, we want children who attend this provision to:

• eat healthily over the school holidays
• be active during the school holidays
• take part in engaging and enriching activities which support the development of resilience, character, and wellbeing along with their wider educational attainment
• be safe and not to be socially isolated
• have a greater knowledge of health and nutrition
• be more engaged with school and other local services

We also want to ensure that the families who participate in this programme:

• develop their understanding of healthy lifestyles
• are signposted towards other information and support, for example, health,employment and education.

Grant funding amounts

Grants are available depending on the number of places available each day (this will be the club’s average daily attendance target, and they will be expected to meet this each day of delivery). When applying for funding, please consider that there is a minimum expectation that 85% of your places each day must be filled by eligible children.

An increased grant amount is available to support groups providing SEND-focused Easter holiday activities to reflect the additional support required. To claim the SEND rate, at least 50% of attendees must be SEND.

Restrictions

Applicants are limited to applying for a maximum of 100 places per day across all sites, SEND provision is limited to a maximum of 60 places per day. The maximum size of a Mainstream site is 100 places per day. The maximum size of a SEND site is 60 places per day. Clubs can apply for both SEND and Mainstream for a maximum of 160 places per day. Due to budget constraints the council will reserve the right to amend or reduce the number of places per day.

• Clubs can deliver up to a maximum of 2 sites
• You must adhere to your venue’s capacity
• For the Christmas Programme, applicants can apply to deliver for a maximum of 8 days and a minimum of 4 days.

How much funding is available?

Funding levels may differ from what was available in previous rounds of delivery for the HAF programme in the expectation that cost will not be the same as previous.

For applicants to apply for SEND funding MUST have at least 50% SEND attendees and you MUST provide attendees school details.

Budget breakdown

(Refers to full project breakdown of budget in the application form)

As a part of the application process applicants will be required to provide a breakdown of your budget. You must provide a breakdown for the following:

• staff costs
• volunteer costs
• operational/Activity costs
• office, overhead and premises costs
• capital costs
• reasonable publicity costs
• food costs
• match funding amount

The following is an example of a budget breakdown for an 8-day programme, delivering at 1 mainstream site to 50 children. This is to give applicants an understanding of the expected level of detail that should be provided when outlining your budget breakdown in your application.

Department for Education minimum standards

All provision funded by the local authority must adhere to all of the framework of standards, as outlined as follows. Please ensure that your application addresses the following:

If an organisation does not provide adequate answers to any part of the Department for Education Minimum Standards section of the application form then they will not be eligible for funding.

1. Healthy meals: Holiday clubs must provide at least one healthy hot meal per day, meeting the School Food Standards and adhering to Natasha’s Law. With the HAF Grant funding, clubs can use the funding to:
   1. Produce healthy food in house (providing that all food hygiene and safety standards are met) and/or
   2. Source healthy food from a local provider
2. Enrichment activities: Holiday clubs must provide fun and enriching activities that provide children with opportunities to develop or consolidate skills or knowledge. Clubs must also provide physical activities which meet the physical activity guidelines daily.
3. Increasing awareness of healthy eating, healthy lifestyles and positive behaviours: We expect providers to incorporate helping children to understand more about the benefits of healthy eating and nutrition into their programme.These do not need to be formal learning activities. This could include:
   1. getting children involved in food preparation and cooking
   2. growing fruit and vegetables
   3. taste tests
   4. discussing food and healthy eating during mealtimes
   5. including food and nutrition in other activities
4. Signposting and referrals: Clubs must provide information, signposting, or referrals to other services and support beneficial for attending children and their families. This may include advice on sourcing, preparing, and cooking nutritious and low-cost food, along with increasing awareness of healthy eating. Tower Hamlets Council has existing partnerships in place and will provide information on where families can be referred to, but providers should think how this element will fit with their delivery plan.
5. Policies and procedures: Clubs must demonstrate and explain their safeguarding arrangements. Relevant and appropriate policies and procedures should be in place for safeguarding, health and safety, insurance, accessibility and inclusiveness. Where applicable, clubs must comply with Ofsted requirements for working with children
6. Targeted free Holiday Club places: Free holiday club places should be targeted at children (reception – Year 11 inclusive) who are in receipt of benefits-related free school meals. Benefits-related Free School Meals are different to the Universal Free School Meals that every child in Tower Hamlets receives. Benefit-related Free School Meals must be applied for through either the council’s website or the child’s school.
7. Eligibility checks: The primary focus of the programme will be engaging and supporting children/young people in receipt of benefits-related Free School Meals. However, clubs will be able to offer 15% of their daily placements to non-eligible children.HAF codes are no longer being issued to check eligibility. Instead, eligibility will be checked by entering a child’s name and date of birth into the Plinth eligibility checker. Clubs check the eligibility for each child that attends their programme(in some circumstances, confirmation received from the child’s school or from the council maybe acceptable).This should be built into your registration/booking process and is mandatory to collect.Clubs must also be open and accessible for those with additional needs or SEND and must (to the best of their ability) cater to all needs.
8. Booking system: If funded, you will be asked to use the online booking system Plinth to advertise clubs, track eligibility and attendance data. You will be asked to create an account (if you do not already have one) and draft event with Plinth as part of your application. These events are not visible to the public and can be edited later. To find out what the website looks like, visit the HAF Plinth portal. 
9. Local presence: You will be asked to evidence that your organisation has a registered address in Tower Hamlets in the Attachment section of the application form. Only organisations who have a registered address in TowerHamlets will be eligible for HAF funding.

Minimum delivery expectation

The minimum delivery expectations which must be met are as follows. Applicants will be asked to demonstrate how these delivery expectations will be met in their application.

Refers to Other Details section in the application form

1. Eligibility and paid places: Clubs must be free to attend for eligible children (children in receipt of benefits-related Free School Meals). Clubs can choose to offer paid places to non-eligible children if they wish, but every effort must be made to avoid stigmatising free attendees.
2. Delivery structure: Clubs must deliver a minimum of 4 hours of in person activity per day for all programmes. For Christmas, this is for a maximum of 8 days (or a minimum of 4 days). (There may be some limited flexibility on the structure if the number of hours is met). The delivery structure of SEND clubs can be adapted to suit the needs of the cohort. Due to budget constraints the council will reserve the right to  amend or reduce delivery periods.
3. Delivery dates:
   1. Christmas delivery must fall within Saturday 19 December 2026 – Sunday 3 January 2027
4. Monitoring and evaluation expectations: To derive as much learning as possible Tower Hamlets Council will gather a range of information from funded activities. Monitoring data will be collected via the booking system Plinth; all clubs will be required to use this system. HAF funded clubs must collect all of the following information for all individuals attending each session:
   1. First name
   2. Surname
   3. Gender
   4. Date of birth
   5. Ethnicity
   6. Home postcode
   7. Dates of all sessions attended
   8. Special educational needs or a disability
5. SEND (Refers to the SEND section of the application form, and only needs to be answered if you are applying for SEND funding): Clubs delivering SEND provision must prioritise places for SEND children and they must achieve a minimum of 50% SEND attendance for each day of delivery. SEND clubs must consider that the adaptations and needs of children will be more complex and should therefore take into consideration additional support, reasonable adaptations and suitable venues when applying.
   
   Recruitment and registration strategies should consider the SEND cohort and incorporate necessary adaptions to plan for potential dropouts and make sure the needs of attendees are met. This should be in line and reflected in your Equality & Diversity Policies. This also applies to mainstream clubs.
6. Contingency: Remote provision will not be funded. Clubs should consider contingency plans in case disruptions to delivery e.g. venue cancellations or poor weather conditions. If applying for the Winter Programme, include how you will check the ongoing feasibility of your winter plans and what actions you will take if your proposed approach can no longer be delivered.

Other considerations

Capacity

When applying for funding, clubs should expect to be operating at full capacity. It is expected that your average daily attendance will be the same as the number of places bid for in your application

Equal access

We expect applicants to prioritise equality of access to their programme including gender equality

Proof of eligibility

You must keep records of proof of eligibility (letter/email from the relevant Council or School confirming receipt of benefits-related Free School Meals)

Capital costs

No more than 3% of the awarded grant total can be spent on capital items.

Payments

If awarded a grant, 75% of the payment will be made upon the start of the programme delivery and 25% after the programme end and dependant on targets and conditions being met. (Please consider this when applying as we cannot fund delivery prior to the delivery start date).

Record of expenditure

Clubs must be able to provide proof of expenditure for their HAF club if requested by Tower Hamlets Council.

Subsidy control

All organisations applying for HAF funding must adhere to the Subsidy Control Act.

Trips

Trips and excursions must meet the framework of standards and delivery format. Trips must not be offered in replacement of standards.

Delivering in park spaces

If you plan to conduct your HAF programme in a Tower Hamlets Park or open space, you must obtain permission by discussing your proposal with Steven.McEvoy@towerhamlets.gov.uk at least 6 weeks prior to delivery. Permissions are subject to availability and at the discretion of the Parks team, with no guarantee. Due to potential limitations, each park may allow only one club, so prepare a backup option when expressing interest.

Other venue options

If you want to deliver but do not have a venue, you can find a list of venues that be hired on the Tower Hamlets website (see list of premises).

Volunteer support

If you wish to receive support with sourcing and managing volunteers for your Holiday Activities and Food programme, we encourage you to register with the Volunteer Centre Tower Hamlets (VCTH), who recruit volunteers fora wide variety of non-profit organisations in Tower Hamlets. To enquire, please email info@vcth.org.uk.

What can the funding be used for?

HAF funding can be used to cover all the costs of delivering a project, including:

• Staff salaries and associated costs
• Activity costs (activities in line with the Framework of Standards)
• Room/venue hire
• Materials, and other project resources
• Food
• Reasonable and relative training
• Capital cost (including equipment) up to the amount of 3% of the grant awarded

Funding cannot be used:

• for capital works or major building works
• for general charitable appeals
• to pay back debt or cover past expenditure

Projects will need to demonstrate that they will provide value for money.

How to apply

Organisations can apply by completing a HAF application form by 11:59pm on Sunday 17 May 2026.

Notification of application outcome

If your application is successful, the council will contact you for additional information and required documents. The timeframe for this process cannot be stipulated, but you will be promptly notified of the acceptance or rejection of your application.

If you have any questions about the programme, please feel free to contact HAF@towerhamlets.gov.uk.