Holidays Activity Food programme annual report 2025/26

The HAF programme predominantly covers the Easter, Summer and Christmas school holidays, however, has now been extended to cover half terms with a reduced number of spaces and funding. HAF is for children and young people that are eligible for benefits related free-school meals and a discretionary 15% of funding can be used to provide places for school-age children that the local authority believe could benefit from HAF.

In Torbay 2025/26 we reserved these spaces for the following criteria, whilst also recognising there may be other instances of vulnerability outside of these categories*:

• Young carers
• Children Cared For
• Supported by the Youth Justice Service
• Adopted or Special Guardianship Order
• Child in Need Plan in place
• Child Protection Plan in place
• Refugee or asylum-seeking
• Electively Home Educated
• Living in temporary accommodation

*As of summer 2026, the discretionary 15% spaces will be on a referral only basis.

HAF 2025/26 provision was spread across the year as follows:

• Easter: 4 days for a minimum of 4 hours per day
• Summer: 16 days for a minimum of 4 hours per day
• Christmas: 4 days for a minimum of 4 hours per day
• February half term 2026: 4 days for a minimum of 4 hours per day

It is designed to provide free holiday places for those children that are eligible, and ensures they have a healthy meal alongside physical and enriching activities. The programme aims to encompass a supportive provision for families and the local community, with offers of events for parents and signposting to relevant services.

Contents

• Background of HAF in Torbay
• Budget
• Steering Group
• Statistical data
• Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND)
• What did HAF 2025 look like
• HAF 2025 feedback
• What's to come in 2026

Background of HAF in Torbay

HAF has been running in Torbay since the start of the programme in 2021. In this time, we have worked with a variety of providers to deliver the core offer of the HAF programme. Within our requirements set out by the Department of Education, we complete due diligence checks on providers during every holiday period, this is to ensure high quality provision throughout Torbay. During our procurement process, we have tender opportunities that ensure sufficient provision is available for primary and secondary aged children and young people, provision for children with SEND and ensuring provision is geographically well situated. It is a requirement for all HAF provision to offer a range of physical activities; an enrichment activity which could be anything from crafts or a petting zoo coming in; and as well as a healthy meal there must be education around nutrition and a balanced diet.

We have recognised, along with many other local authorities, that our Christmas provision may not be able to meet the full offer of 4 days face-to-face; this is due to the way Christmas holidays fall. Therefore, we offer 2 days of this remote which has mostly been in the form of activity packs and food hampers.

Budget

The HAF budget is allocated by the government and is determined by the number of FSM eligible children and young people in Torbay. The budget is not expected to cover spaces for all eligible children as it is unlikely everyone will access the programme.

Our budget and breakdown of overall costs are detailed in the table below:

In 2025/26, the HAF guidance allowed local authorities to use 10% of funding for administration. We used this 10% for Senior Management costs associated with HAF.

Steering Group

Part of our obligation as a local authority is to have a steering group that supports decision making around the HAF programme. Our steering group is part of the team that evaluates applications from the tender process and supports with visiting providers during holiday periods. By using the expertise and experience of the group, it ensures HAF is fair and supportive of all families in Torbay. We call on their knowledge of their own sectors to promote a higher level of reach and ensure our community in Torbay is receiving provision tailored to the needs of the area. In 2025 we held one steering group meeting and had support from some members of the group for the procurement process.

Details of our members are in the table below:

• Kirsty Parker-Calland - Senior Sport and Physical Activity Officer
  
• Nancy Meehan - Director of Children's Services
  
• Emma Kerridge - Head of Service Early Years and Home Learning Environment
• Sarah Overton - Education Safeguarding and Assurance Advisor
  
• Robyn Osborne - HAF Coordinator
  
• Victoria Glanville - Public Health Practitioner
  
• David Carpenter - Secondary School Headteacher
  
• Alex Diviney - Participation Officer for Torbay Council
  

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Statistical data

Outlined in the table below is the mandatory data recorded across the Easter, Summer and Christmas holiday periods.

CYP = children and young people.
FSM = free school meals
SEND = Special Educational Needs and Disabilities

Based on this data, it is recognised we are only reaching approximately 8% of eligible CYP during the Easter provision; 13% during summer and less than 7% during Christmas provision. This level of reach is similar across other local authorities, and the government funding reflects this in the expectation that we will not be reaching the total number of CYP eligible for free-school meals. However, this reach data is lower than previous years which is due to the introduction of our booking system. The booking system eligibility checks before booking, which has saved a significant amount of administrative time, and ensured we are reaching the targeted audience. This has caused a decrease in our numbers as we had many children accessing HAF that were not effectively eligibility checked. There has been mostly positive feedback on the booking system, with everything in one place for parents, providers and the local authority. As with any change, some parents have found the system challenging, and more support has been put in place for these parents either by the providers or the local authority.

The providers for 2025 were:

• Achieve4All
• Argyle Community Trust
• Imagine - Torbay Multicultural Group CIC
• Kinetic Sports Group
• Play Torbay
• ProCoaching
• Shear Soccer Ltd
• Sound Communities CIC
• Sporty Stars
• Taleblazers (SEND provision)
• Turning Heads (SEND provision)
  
  

Not all providers delivered during all holiday periods due to staffing commitments and venue availability.

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Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND)

HAF 2025 saw our first year of two specialist SEND provisions. These provisions received increased funding to support higher ratios and to provide tailored support to children and young people with SEND. It was a fantastic success as many of the children attending the HAF provisions were familiar with the provider already and had great relationships with staff. The SEND specialist provisions engaged in a community support project which involved painting a mural, they had the offer of beach walks, learning new IT skills, woodwork, forest school, nature games, storytelling, sports games and lots of arts and crafts! We are hoping to continue to grow the SEND provision and ensure families feel comfortable using HAF for their child with SEND. Although HAF is predominantly 4 hours a day, in partnership with the provider, families are encouraged to do what works for them.

As well as our SEND specialist provisions, all our providers offer inclusive and supportive provisions. When parents/carers book their child onto a provision they are asked to provide details of any SEND or additional support their CYP may need. Following this, the provider may organise a discussion with the parent/carer around how they can support the CYP and possibly speak to the CYP's school to gather further information. Some of our providers have found that as the holiday club environment is not as structured as an education setting, the CYP have been able to access all areas of the provision without additional support. They have reported CYP that have SEND with 1:1's in school, have thrived in their holiday club provision without the need for a 1:1, highlighting the fantastic inclusive offers available in our HAF programme.

What did HAF 2025 look like

HAF 2025 has seen a vast variety of activities on offer to the CYP of Torbay. Some of them included walks in nature, cycling, sporting activities, crafting, taste testing, petting zoo, magicians, DJing, broadcasting on radio, and many more! A few of the providers offered opportunities for parents to get involved and supported them with activities they could try at home!

As well as activities to try at home, the CYP also took home activity packs, food hampers, Easter eggs, pasties and lots of arts and crafts!

During the clubs, CYP learned new skills, met new friends and created lasting memories. They learned about growing their own food, received education around nutrition and a balanced diet, developed their IT skills, lots of coaching of physical activities, sessions with a PT to develop their own fitness plans and explore the gym equipment, using specialist music equipment to create their own songs and making music videos! This is amongst many other skills they developed during HAF 2025! Many of our providers have made strong relationships with families that attend and have seen the confidence of the CYP grow, and their skills too!

HAF 2025 feedback

We collected feedback and quotes from the CYP and their parents on their thoughts of HAF. Some of them are listed below:

"The staff were so welcoming and friendly. I had 3 children here, they all got to try something new and all three came out buzzing, excited to go back the next day. Best holiday club they have experienced. Can't thank Sounds Communities staff enough. Incredible project run by incredible people."

What's to come in 2026

HAF 2025 was a great success with a new booking system implemented, which streamlined our eligibility checking and made reporting data to the Department of Education more accurate and reliable. It has been confirmed that funding will continue for the next 3 years for HAF which is fantastic news. We will be incorporating HAF into our wider local authority strategies, particularly with the expansion of school age childcare and the wider umbrella of what this will look like. Within the HAF remit we already attend partnership meetings within the local community to gain the valuable insight from teams working directly with families, we are looking to expand our partnership meetings further within the local authority and the wider community. In the later part of 2026, we will be changing how our 15% discretionary funding currently works, and moving this to a referral only route whereby CYP not eligible for FSM but otherwise would benefit from HAF, must be referred from a professional that has a relationship with the CYP or family.

High quality provision will continue, with a more robust quality assurance process and visits from members of the steering group. The HAF team will be reaching out to schools and attending events to support with the promotion of HAF and receive any feedback from families as to the shaping of the programme. The signposting offer for HAF will improve, with information available to families directly through the Torbay Council Website under HAF. This will ensure there is one place for providers and families to go to receive support.

In 2026, we will collect and analyse data on how Torbay families hear about HAF so we can target promotion more effectively. We endeavour to reshare posts from our providers and celebrate through photos and feedback once a holiday period has finished.

Part of HAF is creating partnerships, which many of our providers have done. They partner with supermarkets to provide fresh fruit to CYP, they have built relationships with police, the fire service and the coastguard which is highly valuable in our coastal area. In 2026, providers are partnering with swimming pools and sports clubs to provide incredible enrichment opportunities, going far above what is typically expected within HAF.

HAF 2026 will be another successful year of providing meals, education, team building, developing skills, physical activity, taking part in enrichment activities and providing support to families. Hopefully 2026 will see the reach grow and more children accessing the valuable HAF provision. With effective data collection we hope to see where we can improve HAF and support with any barriers to accessing provision.

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