At the beginning of 2021 the government announced the expansion of the Holiday Activities and Food (HAF) programme across the whole of England. Funds were made available to every local authority in England to coordinate free holiday provisions, including healthy food and enriching activities. Dudley was granted £1,200,000.
The aim of HAF is to make free places available to children aged 5-16 who are eligible for benefits-related free school meals because they are a low income family. In Dudley we have worked with parents, children, young people and schools to ask what they want and need from HAF. The people that will benefit from HAF (you) have been at the heart of our planning and preparation.
We are really proud of our HAF offer her in Dudley, in 2022 we:-
- registered over 4,200 eligible children,
- offered over 60,000 sessions,
- and worked with over 63 organisations – the majority being from the voluntary, community or faith sector.
If your child is eligible for benefit related free school meals, is aged between 5 and 16 and is a resident or attends school in Dudley borough please register your child.
We process data in accordance with General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) 2018 and the Data Protection Act 2018.
Information will be stored and processed securely on our database system. All data will be held locally or on UK/EU data centres. A full copy our Data Policy and how your data is stored and used can be found at:
HAF Privacy Statement
The programme will cover the Easter, Summer and Christmas holidays in 2023. The focus of the programme will be on children (Reception to Year 11) eligible for benefits-related free school meals.
The aim of the programme is to make free places available to children eligible for free school meals for the equivalent of at least four hours a day, four days a week and for six weeks a year. This would cover four weeks in the summer and a week’s worth of provision in each of the Easter and Christmas holidays in 2023.
What you need to do to take part…
Registering your child(ren) as soon as possible is essential. Registration opens again on the 6th February 2023. If your child is not registered, they won’t be able to take part, and we really don’t want them to miss out, so the sooner it’s done the better. If you are having trouble registering, then either contact your school who may be able to help or get in touch with the team via the contact us section of the website.
I need to register for free school meals
If you get any of the following support payments your child may be entitled to receive free school meals:
- Income Support
- Income-based Jobseekers Allowance
- Income-related Employment and Support Allowance
- Support under Part VI of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999
- the guaranteed element of State Pension Credit
- Child Tax Credit (provided you’re not also entitled to Working Tax Credit and have an annual gross income of no more than £16,190)
- Working Tax Credit Run-on – paid for 4 weeks after you stop qualifying for Working Tax Credit
- Universal Credit (you must have less than £616.67 a month net earned income (after tax – and not including any benefits)
To apply visit https://www.dudley.gov.uk/residents/benefits/free-school-meals/
Why do I need to register for HAF? We are using a central registration process to make it easier for you to book your child onto activities, which means you only have to provide your information once. If you registered your child in 2021 / 2022 you do not need to register them again, just wait for an email.
We will share your child’s information with the provider of any activities that your child takes part in. This is to make sure that the provider can effectively deliver their activities . Once you have registered your child we will only share your child’s personal information with the providers who deliver activities as part of this programme, and only for the purpose of delivering the programme.
When can I book activities? On the 20th March 2023 at 5pm, booking the programme activities will be open. You will receive a unique HAF code that enables you to book sessions of activities per eligible child throughout the holidays. This is a unique code to be used for your child(ren) only. Codes will be monitored by activity providers. We cannot guarantee that you will get all sessions you want, as sessions are allocated on a first come, first serve basis. Once activities are booked you should receive a confirmation email. The booking system now includes the option to withdraw from an activity should circumstances change, and you cannot attend the activity. Please use this facility if needed so another family can book the activity.
Keep in Touch! We have a number of social media platforms for you to stay connected so please do give us a follow, like and share!
We are excited to be planning with your help, a year of fun activities for your family.
If you would like your child to attend an activity over the Easter and you aren’t able to find a suitable activity please visit Dudley Community Information Directory where you may be able to find something suitable.
What to do next
- 6th February – Register your child(ren)
- 20th March – Book your activities
- Complete all the online information
- Use your unique code to book
- Activity Sessions will run from 31st March – 16th April 2023