Agenda item

Consideration was given to the Managing Director, Children and Young People which sought approve acceptance of the Holiday Activities Food (HAF) funding and implementation, including payment terms for providers and creation of dedicated delivery team via fixed term posts, covering the 3 years confirmed programme 2022/23, 2023/24, 2024/25.

The Department for Education (DfE) made funds available to every local authority in England to coordinate free holiday club/activity provision, including healthy food and enriching activities, for children receiving benefits-related free school meals for the Easter, Summer and Christmas holidays in 2021.

Following the success of the HAF programme in 2021, the Chancellor confirmed in October that the programme will continue in all local authorities in England for the next three years, with funding of over £200m each year. This new funding covers the length of this spending review period – 2022-23 to 2024-25.

Oldham Council had been allocated £1,458,050 from the DfE to deliver the Holiday Activities and Food programme (HAF) in 2022/2023 and would receive additional allocations for the programme in 23/24 and 24/25.

With the funding confirmed 3 years, a 3-year delivery programme would be developed building on the processes established in the pilot year 21/22. With appropriate staffing resources to ensure the Council can meet its ambition to ensure eligible children and young people across Oldham have access to a diverse range of exciting holiday clubs and activities, offering a blend of borough-wide and more locally based activities.

To establish the programme delivery there were a number of decisions for consideration.

Payment terms for providers

Payment terms of the grants to delivery partners. It was recommended that based on the processes previously agreed in the pilot year the Council would continue to have a tiered payment process based on the value of the grant being awarded to the provider.

•           Awards under £20k will be paid in advance

•           Awards over £20k will be paid 75% in advance and 25% on completion.

Recruitment of dedicated HAF programme staffing

There was a requirement within the Department for Education programme guidance that each local authority appointed a HAF coordinator/manager alongside having sufficient staff who are dedicated to work on the HAF programme all year round. Local Authorities were able to use 10% of the allocated funding for administration costs, this included staffing costs.

It was proposed that to ensure the HAF programme to be sufficiently staffed,  2 fixed term post for the 3-year delivery programme be created One full time programme manager (NJC - grade 8) and one programme coordinator 22 hours (NJC grade 6).

Option/alternatives considered

Payment terms for delivery providers.

Option 1 -To pay all providers in advance of delivering their holiday activities and food provision. This would allow adequate funding for activities to be delivered by small providers with limited reserves. This option presents a level of risk to the council and there is potential for needing to claw money back if they fail to deliver in full.

Option 2 - To have a tiered payment process based on the value of the grant being awarded to the provider.

·         Awards under £20k will be paid in advance

·         Awards over £20k will be paid 75% in advance and 25% on completion.

This option allows us to balance the need of small providers with the risk presented to the council. It should also be noted that the majority of these providers are known to the council.

Option 3 - To pay all providers on completion of delivering their Holiday Activities and Food provision. This option provides maximum security to the council but will exclude a large number of providers from taking up the HAF grant and will ultimately limit the provision we are able to make available for our children and young people.

Recruitment of HAF programme team

Option 1 -To not recruit a dedicated team for the management and delivery of the HAF programme.

This option would mean we are not fulfilling the DfE guidance for the programme and would not have sufficient staffing resource for delivery the programme in Oldham.

Option 2 - To recruit one HAF manager and 1 HAF coordinator to lead delivery of the programme for the 3 years commitment to the programme

This option allows us to ensure the effective management and delivery of the programme over the 3 years.

RESOLVED – That:

1.    The acceptance of the DfE funding for the Holiday Activities and Food Programme be approved.

2.    A tiered payment process based on the value of the grant being awarded to the provider be approved.

·         Awards under £20k will be paid in advance

·         Awards over £20k will be paid 75% in advance and 25% on

3.    The recruitment of a manager and coordinator for the programme delivery – fixed term for 3 years be approved.