HAF Annual Report 2023/2024
The London Borough of Sutton Holiday Activities and Food Programme Annual Report 2023/2024
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The London Borough of Sutton - Holiday Activities and Food Programme Annual Report 2023/2024
1. Introduction
The following report provides an overview of the London Borough of Sutton’s Holiday Activities and Food (HAF) programme for the financial year 2023/2024. It highlights the remarkable achievements and progress of the programme that is funded by the Department for Education. The initiative has been instrumental in supporting children and young people during school holidays, ensuring they have access to enriching activities and nutritious meals. This report delves into the milestones, financial investments and spend, successes and challenges, and collaborative efforts that have driven the success of the HAF Programme, emphasising our unwavering commitment to fostering healthy and active lifestyles for our children and young people in the London Borough of Sutton.
In 2023/2024, the HAF Programme saw substantial growth, both in terms of participation and scope, which was particularly crucial given the economic challenges faced by many families. The cost of living crisis has exacerbated food insecurity and limited access to extracurricular activities for many children across the UK. In response, we successfully partnered with teams, services, local organisations, schools to offer a variety of engaging activities, from sports and arts to educational workshops and day trips. These activities were designed not only to entertain but also to educate and inspire children, providing them with valuable skills and experiences. Additionally, the programme ensured that all participants received balanced and nutritious meals, addressing food insecurity and promoting better eating habits.
The allocated grant funding from the Department for Education for £658,970 for the 2023/2024 Sutton HAF programme was meticulously allocated to maximise the benefits for the children and young people and families. We explored the best use of Sutton’s resources to ensure optimum reach, inclusivity and enrichment of the programme for children and young people. The funding permitted the running of our Easter, Summer, and Christmas programme in 2023.
This report further outlines the budget distribution for each programme funded by the 2023/2024 budget. Transparency and accountability were maintained throughout the financial year, ensuring that we supported the programme's objectives, with expanding provision and places at our highest priority.
Looking back at our programme for 2023, we are extremely pleased with the increasing popularity, rising standards, and support offered. Looking ahead, we aim to build on this year's achievements by further enhancing our activities, expanding our engagement and uptake to continue making a meaningful and positive difference in the lives of children and families in Sutton.
2. Background
Sutton, much like the rest of the UK, is still healing from the pandemic’s detrimental impact and pressures due to the ongoing cost of living crisis with many families requiring support. Sutton’s child population (0-17 year olds) is 48,463 and about 13% (6,399) of children live in low-income families (1). Approximately 6,760 children i.e. 16.3% of students receive free school meals (FSM)(2) . This figure continues to rise.
The Holiday Activities and Food (HAF) Programme has been a crucial initiative in this context, providing essential support to improve the health and well-being of children from disadvantaged backgrounds in Sutton, targeting areas that need it the most.
(1) View a full list of Sutton statistics from Cognus partners https://www.cognus.org.uk/about-us/sutton-statistics/
(2) School Spring Census Data 2024 provided by Cognus.
3. Department for Education (DfE) - HAF Programme Overview
There are many benefits for children who attend the HAF programme. We want to encourage all HAF providers to ensure a high-quality experience that will result in children:
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receiving healthy and nutritious meals
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maintaining a healthy level of physical activity
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being happy, having fun and meeting new friends
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developing a greater understanding of food, nutrition and other health related issues
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taking part in fun and engaging activities that support their development and well-being
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feeling safe and secure
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getting access to the right support services
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returning to school feeling engaged and ready to learn
The full aims, objectives, and core offer of the HAF programme can be found in the Department for Education’s guidance for HAF 2024 publication (External Link).
The minimum standards for quality provision for the programme are:
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Enriching activities
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Nutritious Food
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Physical Activity
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Nutritional Education/Promoting Healthier Behaviours and Lifestyles
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Signposting and Referrals
3.1 DfE Funding
For 2023/2024, the London Borough of Sutton were awarded an original grant allocation of £658,970 to deliver the HAF programme across Sutton.
80% of the original allocation was received upfront, however the remaining (up to) 20% was received and based on actual spend. Thus the total spend based on actual expenditure was £657,757 for 2023/2024 HAF programmes.
It is important to note that Easter HAF 2024 programme delivery was funded through the 2024/2025 grant funding allocation by the Department for Education and therefore will be reported on in the Annual report for 2024/2025.
No additional funds were used to support the delivery of the 2023/2024 programmes.
4. Commissioning and Procurement
The HAF Programmes delivered by 2023/2024 funding, followed two different commissioning processes to procure providers that were committed in delivering the programme. The Easter was through the Request for Quotes procurement process, whilst the Summer and Christmas programmes were through the new Dynamic Purchasing System to procure providers.
The full provider list for 2023 HAF commissioned providers can be found in the ‘Provider List’ in the full report.
5. Marketing and Communication
Reaching the Target Cohort
Ahead of Summer HAF 2023, Sutton invested in a central booking platform ‘HolidayActivities’ to help manage the HAF Programme. The HolidayActivities e-vouchers platform was designed and built specifically to support effective HAF programmes, enabling local authorities, activity providers and eligible families to easily and securely engage their children in HAF activities.
By leveraging this digital solution, the platform efficiently distributes e-vouchers directly to our eligible families (on benefits-related free school meals), ensuring seamless access to our HAF programme.
6. Special Educational Needs and Disabilities/Additional Needs
Sutton HAF are committed to ensuring our programme remains inclusive for all. Our provision for SEND children included sessions with additional support to meet unique requirements. We had a wide range of providers who delivered provision for children with low level to high level complex SEND/additional needs.
Where further funding was required to help meet needs e.g. through 1:1 support, we granted this with the consultation of our Children and Young People’s Disability Team. This approach ensured that children received appropriate support where needed to enable them to participate and benefit from activities in a safe manner.
Additionally, we distributed mobile SEN kits for all commissioned providers with our capital funding, invested in a training package for up-skilling providers, and also implemented regular feedback mechanisms to help monitor and improve this aspect of the programme.
7. Additional Resources, Partnerships and Aligning with Other Priorities
Partnerships are integral to the success of Sutton's HAF Programme, as they enable us to expand our reach, enhance service delivery, and maximise community impact. Ahead of each HAF programme, we look to establish connections and partnerships with services to enhance the core HAF offer.
For 2023/2024 we partnered with: Sutton United FC, LBS Sustainability and Transport, Art/Cultural Organisations, Community Safety Organisations, Sutton Family Hub Connectors, The Wonder Company Ltd, TTS Group, PlayWise, and Beyond the Box CIC.
8. HAF Programmes 2023
Easter 2023
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Number of commissioned providers: 19
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Number of locations: 21
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Number of awarded places to commissioned providers: 3,028
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Number of attended places: 2,156
A range of activities were delivered from multi sports, martial arts, drama, arts and craft, cooking and more. We visited 5 provisions to quality assure to ensure high quality provision was being delivered. It transpired that providers still need support with signposting and referrals and to be more creative with nutritional education.
The below data provides an overview of our attendance data from our evaluation of the Easter HAF programme. A breakdown of further data and Easter expenditure can be found in the full report. It is important to note that when interpreting Easter data, Sutton HAF did not have a Central Booking System in place.
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Free School Meals Population (Eligible Cohort on benefits-related FSM): 6,171
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Primary Aged Children: 656
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Secondary Aged Children: 90
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Total Unique HAF Funded Children: 746
Summer 2023
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Number of commissioned providers: 19
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Number of locations: 24
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Number of awarded places to commissioned providers: 9,896
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Number of attended places: 8,073
A range of activities were delivered from multi-sports, cycling club, drama, arts and crafts, coding, trips and more. Summer HAF also saw a roll out of pilot provision for 13-16 year olds which involved a podcasting workshop, financial management, and sports coaching sessions. We visited all of our providers to quality assure to ensure high quality provision was being delivered. It transpired that providers still need support with signposting and referrals.
The below data provides an overview of our attendance data from our evaluation of the Summer HAF programme. A breakdown of further data and Summer expenditure can be found in the full report.
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Free School Meals Population (Eligible Cohort on benefits-related FSM): 6,714
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Primary Aged Children: 2,106
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Secondary Aged Children: 256
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Total Unique HAF Funded Children: 2,362
Christmas 2023
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Number of commissioned providers: 19
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Number of locations: 24
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Number of awarded places to commissioned providers: 3,407
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Number of places attended: 1,812
A range of activities were delivered from multi-sports, drama, arts and crafts, coding, and winter themed trips such as ice skating and Winter Wonderland. Four clubs ran our 13+ provision for 13-16 year olds, where building on life skills was the focus. This included, a sports focused workshop on furthering educational skills within sports and active leisure, an opportunity to gain practical coaching experience in sport and physical literacy, a film making/drama improvisation workshop, and a content creation workshop. We visited 9 of our providers to quality assure to ensure high quality provision was being delivered. Providers met HAF standards and while some were fully attended, others had poor attendance due to sickness.
The below data provides an overview of our data from our evaluation of the Christmas HAF programme. A breakdown of further data and Christmas expenditure can be found in the full report.
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Free School Meals Population (Eligible Cohort on benefits-related FSM): 6,667
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Primary Aged Children: 501
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Secondary Aged Children: 102
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Total Unique HAF Funded Children: 603
9. Summary
From running our HAF Programme in 2023/2024, we have gleaned several valuable lessons that will guide future efforts.
The 2023/2024 Holiday Activities and Food (HAF) Programme in Sutton has been a remarkable success, significantly enhancing the well-being of children from low-income families. Throughout the year, we expanded our reach, created new and strengthened existing partnerships, offering a diverse range of enriching activities and nutritious meals to ensure that all participants enjoyed a fulfilling and healthy holiday experience.
The year involved some great successes but equally some great challenges. Key highlights include the implementation of a central booking system, which streamlined our processes, the delivery of targeted provision for 13-16 year olds, and the launch of our DPS that has significantly improved our procurement activity. We have maintained partnerships with local schools, organisations, services and teams, which were crucial in delivering high-quality services and resources that go beyond the core offer.
We learned valuable lessons about the importance of early procurement and planning, the clear need to increase our attendance levels, reviewing effective communication and marketing, and continuous feedback, which will guide our future efforts.
Looking ahead, Sutton HAF remains committed to investing in our programme to ensure that children continue to have access to healthy, nourishing, and supportive environments, creating lasting positive memories and experiences of their school holidays.
Thank you