Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department plans to remove means-testing for families to access the holiday activities and food programme.

The eligibility for the holiday activities and food (HAF) programme in 2026 to 2027 continues to be children in receipt of benefits-related free school meals (FSM) up until September 2026

Local authorities will continue to have flexibility to use up to 15% of their funding to support other children and young people who may benefit from HAF in line with local need and priorities

Some local authorities procure the use of bespoke booking systems from relevant organisations for parents and families to book places on the HAF programme. The department does not hold data on the amounts that individual local authorities pay for procurement of booking systems.