The Department for Education funds the Holiday Activities and Food (HAF) programme. It has been delivered in Brighton & Hove since 2021.
During the school Easter, summer, and Christmas holidays, HAF provides free enriching activities and a meal. HAF is for school-aged children and young people in Reception to Year 11, who receive benefits-related free school meals.
Watch our film from a Brighton Table Tennis Club HAF holiday camp to get an idea of what HAF has to offer.
There are many benefits for children who attend the HAF programme including:
Families can also benefit, when HAF providers include their needs in planning and delivering their programme. This is through:
We'd like to thank the providers who supported children and young people as part of HAF 2025.
The providers were:
Number of HAF providers: 39
Number of HAF programmes: 106
Number of HAF places (sessions) attended: 14,589
Number of unique participants who:
Percentage of school-aged children receiving benefits-related free school meals who attended HAF: 24.34% (based on January 2025 census)
Proportion of primary aged HAF participants: 1,608 (84.01%)
Proportion of secondary aged HAF participants: 306 (15.99%)
Data from the above graph:
Total HAF grant allocation in 2025 to 2026: £766,960.00
Total additional funding: £0.00
HAF total expenditure in 2025 to 2026: £760,535.47
The general salaries for one programme manager and one administrator (pay, NI, pensions) were £76,696.00.
This table shows a breakdown of expenditure:
| Type of expenditure | Amount |
|---|---|
| Administrative Expenditure | £76,696.00 |
| Programme expenditure | £652,732.49 |
| Other expenditure | £5,519.80 |
|
Eequ booking system 2025 (£12,086.95) 2026 (£13,500.23)
|
£25,587.18 |
| Total | £760,535.47 |
Brighton & Hove HAF participants continue to benefit from a wide breadth of providers, with four new providers having joined the programme in 2025. We were also able to provide HAF on two new school sites for the first time, in an attempt to extend our reach.
The 24.9% reduction in non-attendance is an indicator of improved procurement, the support from HAF providers to implement measures to minimise non-attendance, and the increased value families are placing on the HAF offer.
With national evidence of inequality for low-income households with regards to cycling participation and water safety risks, we were proud to introduce swimming and cycling courses through Summer HAF. The council’s Cycle Training team provided Learn to Ride and Bikeability sessions. While Brighton Swimming School provided intensive swimming lessons to HAF participants throughout the summer, including 1-to-1 lessons for those with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND).
We were most proud by our continued growth in support for HAF participants declaring SEND, with a 5.6% increase in unique participants. Special thanks go to the following providers who offered higher staff ratios to help accommodate a higher number of SEND participants:
We also reached more secondary school aged young people, having invested in piloting more programmes and places for teenagers.
We surveyed families after each holiday period with an online survey. In total we had 285 responses to the survey.
88.8% of families said they would recommend HAF to other families with eligible children.
We know that HAF benefits families in different ways, when asked families expressed where they perceived value:
“I would just like to say that the HAF programme has helped me out more than I can describe this spring holiday. It enabled me to be able to work, as I am a single mum and wouldn’t have had any childcare otherwise. It saved me a lot of money on childcare and the Barracudas club were amazing. My son was very happy after leaving Barracudas every day, and it made me happy knowing that whilst I was working, I could check and see what fun activities he was doing during the day. It has also improved his confidence, and I feel very relieved to know that he can go there during the summer holidays too! Thankyou HAF”
“I am always so grateful that the HAF programme exists. My daughter had an absolutely fantastic time in the clubs she attended.”
“I couldn’t work without it so thank you to everyone involved”
“We have had a great experience with HAF and don’t think we would manage without it.”
“Brighton swimming school were truly amazing and can’t thank them enough. It was very inclusive and my son who is diagnosed with autism has now found a confidence in swimming and all members for staff/receptionists were so friendly, patient and supportive.”
“I highly recommend the HAF programme and tell many people about it. The benefits it provides young individuals and opportunities. Especially with the financial climate and not having enough disposable income after bills. This is a necessary and fundamental service. So important with supporting for children to make friends and participating in physical activity”
“This programme is a lifesaver as I’m a single working mum, my daughter absolutely loves attending Artpod as she learns so much and all of the staff are amazing! We appreciate this more than you could ever know”
“It was our first year of using HAF and was very impressed and my son absolutely loved it. Very enriching and made lots of new friends and learnt new sports and was also put in the development squad for table tennis so he has gained so much more confidence and will continue to do a new sport.”
"Please continue the HAF programme, it has brought my son so much joy and access resources. I wouldn’t otherwise be able to afford, and the essential respite for me and him, as we are both disabled."
"The HAF programme really is amazing, my son goes to the clubs every half term and summer holiday, the staff are incredible and my son who usually does not like leaving me goes with ease and a smile on his face."
"I had excellent communication with the course provider prior to the sessions to discuss my daughters needs and they really seemed to grasp it. I was impressed."
"All the staff have been exceptional and have all supported and embraced my child's differences."
All families accessing HAF were signposted and referred to other support services available across the city via the Family Hubs, Family Help Online and Cost of living support offer.
Families were also offered cookery workshops with their children. These were delivered by Brighton & Hove Food Partnership at their Community Kitchen.
They included topics such as:
Families known to the Family Hubs, were also supported on days out with the Family Hubs team.
Due to the way the school Christmas holidays fell, we also supported our providers to distributed 221 high-quality food and activity hampers to families unable to access four days of face-to-face HAF activity.
Developing the HAF offer
In 2025, the following groups attended our steering group:
We carried out further targeted consultation with:
HAF was represented on citywide strategic working groups including:
Progress made against the aims set for 2025:
In 2026, we aim to:
Questions regarding Brighton & Hove’s HAF programme should be emailed to HAF@brighton-hove.gov.uk