Holiday Activities and Food 2019

Please note that this is a grant. Early in 2018, the government announced a programme of work to explore how best to ensure more children from disadvantaged families benefit from enrichment activities and healthy meals during the school holidays.

The programme of work included a £2m grant fund awarded to organisations delivering free healthy food and activities to disadvantaged children in the 2018 summer holidays, and the local coordination of free holiday provision grant fund for the 2019 summer holidays, which is the subject of this invitation to bid. The information we gain from our 2018 and 2019 programmes will provide us with valuable information about what works in supporting this emerging sector.

School holidays can be particular pressure points for some families because of increased costs (such as food and childcare) and reduced incomes (such as loss of a free school meal, reduced working hours etc.). There is a growing body of evidence of a holiday experience gap - with children from disadvantaged families 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.

Free holiday clubs are a response to this issue and evidence suggests that they can have a positive impact on children and young people and that they work best when they provide consistent and easily accessible enrichment activities, for more than just breakfast or lunch, and when they involve children (and parents) in food preparation. There is huge variation in existing provision in terms of the frequency and duration of provision, and the food and activities on offer.

Stakeholders in this area value this diversity in provision but told us that the sector could benefit from support to improve the quality of provision, especially in terms of: • partnership working with other stakeholders in order to improve targeting and referrals, and to help providers link up with food providers; • greater coordination across local areas to help raise awareness of what provision is available and to identify any gaps or 'cold spots'; and • minimum standards or guidance. We are now inviting organisations to bid for grant funding to take on the role of testing the coordination of free holiday provision (including healthy food and enriching activities) for disadvantaged children during the 2019 summer holidays in up to 9 upper-tier local authorities.

Up to £9m is available in 2019-20 in this grant fund. The aims of this grant programme are to develop a more efficient and joined-up approach to free holiday provision for disadvantaged children; and to ensure there is enough good quality free holiday provision to meet the demand from children eligible for free school meals (FSM) in the local authority during the 2019 summer holidays.