Coventry City Council are due to accept a government grant to continue the Holiday Activity and Food Programme (HAF) for the 2024/25 financial year.
Coventry HAF is part of a national programme, funded by the Department for Education, which enables eligible children and young people to attend free activities and experiences with free nutritional food provided. HAF activities and experiences take place in the Easter, Summer and Christmas school holidays.
Following the success of the national Holiday Activity and Food Programme during the financial year 2021/22, the Government announced the extension of the programme to March 2025. 2022/23 was the first year of this extended phase of the programme.
Coventry has now been awarded an allocation of £1,587,840 for 2024/25 from the Department for Education.
Cllr Dr Kindy Sandhu, Cabinet Member for Education and Skills at Coventry City Council, said: “I welcome the news that Coventry has been awarded this grant from the Department of Education. This is such worthwhile funding that will help so many families in our city.
“It is so important to me that families have the opportunity to come together in their local community to take part in free activities. We are all aware of the ongoing challenges many local people face with the cost of living, so families having access to fun, enjoyable activities in a safe and welcoming environment are essential.
“The wonder of the HAF programme is that it gives children and young people the opportunity to access fun free holiday activities and experiences that they will remember and with the added benefit of a meal also being provided.
“Holidays should be a time to try out new experiences and discover new skills, so programmes like this can help reduce the inequality in access to activities plus help address the issue of our city’s children going hungry over the holiday seasons”.
This means that approximately 16,000 Coventry children will be entitled to access free enrichment activities and healthy food during the Easter, Summer and Christmas school holidays in the 2024/25 financial year.
The programme will continue to benefit statutory school age pupils (reception to year 11 inclusive), who are eligible for benefits-related free school meals.
Coventry has also included children with a social worker, children assessed (through an early help assessment) to be in financial hardship and children part of the Ukrainian Family Scheme who fit the eligible criteria.
In Coventry, the HAF programme takes place all across the city and is delivered by over 40 organisations including leisure centres, Herbert Art Gallery, Coventry Transport Museum, local schools, community centres, in addition to offering great trips to attractions such as Drayton Manor and Go-Ape.
Find out more about the HAF programme.
HAF started as a national programme, campaign during Covid-19 and Coventry has been running HAF activities in partnership with different providers for the last couple of years.