This is a call for evidence for case studies on the HAF programme.
The Department for Education (DfE) has been running the national Holiday Activities and Food programme (HAF) since 2021, giving 153 upper tier local authorities funding to coordinate and provide free holiday provision, including healthy food and activities. There is evidence that the HAF programme can benefit children’s health, wellbeing, and learning, as well as supporting low-income families who struggle to afford other childcare during the holidays.
The Local Government Association (LGA) is looking to collect evidence of how local authorities have used HAF funding to effectively support children and families in their communities. You can add to our evidence base by submitting a case study on your local authority’s HAF programme.
We are particularly interested in case studies on the following aspects of the HAF programme:
- Evaluation of HAF outcomes (including benefits for children, families, and communities)
- Integrating HAF with term-time and all year-round childcare provision
- Including children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND)
- Supporting parental employment
- Supporting vulnerable families
- Encouraging eligible families to sign up
- Providing nutritious food to children
- How HAF is connected to other council plans/programmes/strategies
- Joint working with local partnerships and connections
- Reducing inequalities
- Examples of enriching activities
Case study guidance
Please see the template below for LGA case studies. This is intended to be used as guidance and can be adapted. Please send your case study as a word document to [email protected] or get in touch if you have any questions.
Case study template
Case Study Title
Key contact details (name, job title, local authority, email address)
Executive summary
- Provide a brief summary of the case study (approx. 100 words)
Challenge and context
Please contextualise the case study:
- Is there important organisational or local context?
What we did
- How did you go about setting HAF up in your local authority area?
- Did you face any challenges at this stage? How were they managed?
- What were the key stages to delivering the project outcomes?
The difference
- What has been the wider impact of the programme?
Lessons learned
- What have you learnt because of the programme?
- Things you may have done differently in retrospect?
- How effective has the project been? How do you know it's been effective and how have you measured this?
- How could Government improve the HAF programme or better support local authorities?