Holiday Play Schemes: Low Incomes

(asked on 13th July 2023) - View Source

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment of the adequacy of the number of opportunities that children from low-income families have to participate in activities during the summer holidays.


Answered by
Claire Coutinho Portrait
Claire Coutinho
Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero
This question was answered on 20th July 2023

The department recognises that school holidays can be particular pressure points for some families because of increased costs such as food and childcare, and reduced incomes. For some children, that can lead to 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 are 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.

This year, the government is again investing over £200 million in our Holiday Activities and Food (HAF) programme, with all local authorities in England delivering the programme in the Easter, summer and Christmas holidays. The HAF programme provides heathy meals, enriching activities and free childcare places to children from low-income families, benefiting their health, wellbeing and learning. Last summer, the programme reached around 600,000 children across England, including over 475,000 children eligible for free school meals across England.

The department’s 2021 independent evaluation of the 2021 HAF summer programme found that 730,000 children attended a HAF summer holiday club in person, of which 616,000 places were directly funded by HAF and 498,000 were eligible for benefits-related free school meals (FSM). The evaluation also found that two-thirds of HAF attendees lived in one of the 30% most deprived areas across the country.

As in previous years, local authorities have discretion to use up to 15% of their funding to provide free or subsidised holiday club places for children who are not in receipt of benefits-related FSM, but who the local authority believe could benefit from HAF, such as other vulnerable children. This could include, where appropriate, providing places at HAF clubs that support working families. In deciding which children should benefit from the 15% flexible funding, local authorities are asked to ensure that these places are aligned to their local priorities. The department also encourages all our providers to offer paid places, alongside HAF-funded, to increase the reach of holiday clubs. Clubs must provide healthy free meals, nutritional education, and physical activities on a daily basis.

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