The Holiday and Activities Food (HAF) programme offers access to healthy meals and school holiday activities to families who receive benefits-related free school meals. Funding for the programme was extended by the Government for three years in August 2025. Councils can also use up to 15% of their allocated funding for programme provision for children who are not in receipt of free school meals but would benefit from the HAF programme.

Cllr Dr Wendy Taylor, chair of the LGA's Health and Wellbeing Committee, said: ‘Extending the HAF funding is an important part of efforts to combat child poverty. But as we enter another three years of the HAF programme, it is vital that we tackle the barriers to access and efficiency. Councils are well placed to understand their local picture and explore solutions that work for their residents.

‘Now is the time to ensure the programme works for every eligible family. Our recommendations to Government focus on integration, flexibility and inclusion to maximise impact for our children.'

‘Child poverty not only limits children's life chances and their overall health and wellbeing, but it also imposes significant long-term costs on our economy and society.'

The LGA is making a series of recommendations to government to improve the effectiveness of the programme:

• provide clear national guidance for integrated delivery of the HAF programme with other support services and local welfare provision
• allow councils sufficient flexibility around eligibility and duration of provision to meet local need
• facilitate councils to build and maintain effective working relationships with SEND schools and specialist providers to improve access for children with complex needs
• invest in robust data collection and evaluation on outcomes across food, hunger, physical activity, employment, and child poverty
• enable DfE, DWP, schools and councils to share data to identify eligible families.