HAF in Bury 2023
HAF in Bury has gone from strength to strength in 2023.
With Bury Council's 'Let's Do It' values embedded throughout, the project endeavours to support young people on free school meals to access exciting and enriching holiday activities and food.
The work carried out in partnership with local providers has enabled an increase of provision based in neighbourhoods and communities, accessible to those children and young people who will really benefit from the high quality of provision on offer.
A priority of commissioning is funding provision where young people live. Increased work with our colleagues at the VCFA and 3rd sector organisations, who are embedded within communities, has enabled us to have been able to offer an increase of provision through HAF. Funding provided has supported HAF providers to go from strength to strength and increase their offer during the holidays and term time which further supports young people across the borough.
A strong partnership approach with schools and support services further enhances the offer to enable access of the scheme with schools supporting promotion and identification of need.
- More work is needed to continue to promote and work with schools to increase access to parents/carers to fully instil the benefit of HAF and support to access
- By streamlining the booking process with a user-friendly system, we’ve fostered efficient access to these services
- Despite our concerted efforts, booking figures remain lower than anticipated, which is a point of concern
- We recognise the need to engage parents more actively, promoting attendance through targeted communication and community involvement
We hope the following report shows how HAF has developed and improved during 2023, highlighting the strengths of the scheme and the impact reported by parents/carers.
HAF in Bury 2023 breakdown
About grant allocation
The total HAF 2023 grant allocation was £712,840.
The Spring allocation was higher than forecast due to the number of expressions of interest received so the decision was taken to allow all providers to participate to offer a full programme schedule.
Budget Allocation for Winter was set proportionately lower due to the holiday dates and previous low uptake. Actual spend evidenced that the budget allocations had been well considered. £639,505 (90%) was spent on provision, £72,834 (10%) on delivery and administrations, with overall spend coming just below total award at £712,339.
| Budget allocation | Spend | |
| Project delivery | 72,500 | 72,834 |
| Winter | 70,000 | 68,968 |
| Summer | 370,000 | 367,373 |
| Spring | 200,000 | 203,264 |
About provision
HAF Provision increased throughout the year, with new providers successfully commissioned, delivering a more varied and exciting HAF programme for Bury.
Providers linked to schools, after school clubs, TRAs, nurseries, CICs, private providers, leisure services, alternative provision providers and groups/forums linked to specific cohorts offers Bury’s HAF. Our providers offered a wide range of activities including play schemes, multi sports days, football camps, drama workshops, forest schools, swimming and gym sessions, martial arts, gymnastics, arts and crafts, dance, hikes, day trips, and so much more. We added horse-riding, mindfulness, yoga and self-esteem programmes to diversify the offer and try and meet both need and want across all age ranges – priority provision areas were locality, variety, secondary age and complex SEND need.
Providers were also asked to consider the time of day their provision ran to support working parents and encourage increased booking numbers. The commissioning process was managed by the HAF project manager with provision Expressions of Interest collated through an electronic process, for each holiday period, to enable new providers to come on board through the year. An established steering group made up of Council professionals, VCFA, GMP, SEND experts, and youth services scored and decided on allocation.
Breakdown of provision
- 39 providers
- 30 providers in Spring, 28 providers in Summer, 17 providers in Winter and 10 SEND providers
- 56 different types of provision offered
- 35,794 sessions in total
Ward provision mapping
| East | West | Prestwich | North | Whitefield | |
| Easter | 12 | 10 | 5 | 4 | 3 |
| Summer | 12 | 9 | 3 | 13 | 4 |
| Winter | 7 | 8 | 2 | 6 | 0 |
One of the aims of the Steering Group was to allocate provision to a range of providers to ensure spread across the borough. We endeavoured to offer provision within walking distance of any household with an increase of places where wards had higher numbers of young people on FSM.
The north of the borough offered a lot of outdoor activity and therefore increased provision for forest schools and animal care in the warmer months.
The south of the borough, Prestwich and Whitefield, in comparison saw low numbers of providers commissioned. This was due to the lack of providers proposing expression of interest, which is something we will be working on to increase with our VCFA partners for 2024/25.
About out HAF providers
Our providers for 2023 were:
- Active Future
- ALPHA Training Academy
- Azamrah Youth
- Bee Inclusive
- BL martial arts
- Bury Defence Academy
- Bury FC Foundation
- Bury Youth Service
- Bury Young Carers Communitree Outdoor Education Ltd
- Dearden Wood
- Foundation 92
- Funtime Activities Sports Ltd
- Genius Tuition
- Hindle's Alternative Provision Limited
- New Springs Community Project Group
- MaD Theatre Company
- Manchester United Foundation
- NEST Woodland Adventures Ltd
- Next level football coaching
- Woodbank Oscars
- HQ Sport Play and Learn Scheme CIC
- Project youth
- Quality Sport Holiday Clubs Ltd
- Radcliffe borough FCSC Education ltd
- Secret garden Brandleshome CIC
- SportsCool Bury
- Superstars Holiday Club Limited
- The Enterprise centre limited
- Tiny Tots Tiny Hooves Horse Riding Centre
- The Federation of Jewish Services
- The Met, Bury
- Wild Souls
- The Sunnywood project
- Tiddlywinks Nursery Group
- Topping Fold Youth
- We Be Kids CIC
Feedback from providers
Feedback forms returned by providers have been invaluable in helping to improve the services we deliver to our parents, children and providers. We have worked with our providers to improve our processes and systems to be more user friendly and accessible to them, parents/carers and children.
They said - we did!
- They said: "More opportunities to network in person with other providers to identify gaps and skill share"
- We did: Provider Forums were established in 2023 to encourage providers to share experiences, concerns and best practice. These sessions were well received and provided lots of learning for attendees and the HAF Team
- They said: "Tell us what the need is, we want to meet it"
- We did: Start commissioning processes earlier with a longer decision making period to enable discussions and flexibility to shape provision with all providers to increase quantity, variety, and SEND level
- We did: Start commissioning processes earlier with a longer decision making period to enable discussions and flexibility to shape provision with all providers to increase quantity, variety, and SEND level
- They said: "Help us understand the data to improve"
- We did: Worked to improve the booking system to enable providers to pull data and reports on booking, attendance, child level need, and compare
Relationships
We have worked to improve relationships and communication with providers and as expressed through their feedback we have succeeded.
We introduced a new payment structure in 2023 where providers were paid on results. This was to empower providers to be more responsible for their promotion and therefore booking/access numbers and to be realistic when planning expected numbers for their provision. This was received with understanding and a want from them to do more, better understand and meet need and increase numbers of children booking.
More work was carried out with schools to promote and encourage relationships, with providers offering free activity. A level of flexibility was allowed to alter commissions based on participation during the project.
Training and support across the system was offered to upskill and streamline approaches and practice.
All providers are subject to a quality assurance visit which measures their activity, engagement and enjoyment of the children, food, nutritional education, and staff skill to enhance the session for the young people. The providers have reported that they look forward to the visits and receive the feedback positively.
About the booking system
The booking system is provided by WONDE and is simple and straight forward to use.
It enables us to offer set vouchers to parents/carers, provides access provision information and consent, and book onto activities to enable access in line with the DfE eligibility specifications and reporting requirements.
WONDE have been receptive to requests for alterations, and supportive of our parents/carers when accessing the system. They have worked with the schools to streamline processes which by the end of 2023 ensured pupils on FSM in all bury based schools received HAF vouchers. As children on FSM are the HAF priority their vouchers are automatically sent. Schools and linked professionals are able to request vouchers for young people in vulnerable categories who would benefit from HAF participation. This has been promoted and enabled us to offer up to 15% for children to also benefit from access to HAF through manual voucher creation, offered a week after the automatic voucher generation.
The reporting has also improved during 2023 to enable us centrally and providers to monitor increased breakdown of statistics and data and make alterations over during the year. A few issues from all stakeholders were raised in regards to booking – these included access, clarity of information, missing vouchers, completing personal details, viewing booked activity - all were able to be rectified and parents/carers and providers were able to be supported to access.
Feedback shared with WONDE to make improvements was accepted and carried out by the end of the year. Moving into 2024, the return of vouchers when a parent/carer has mistakenly booked relies on the provider that voucher. This issue is still relevant with our parents/carers as the return relies on the provider and is sometimes slow causing worry that alternative places will be in short supply. This issue was raised at WONDE service review meetings with a plan for this to be reviewed for 24/25.
About Spring 2023
Spring HAF ran from 3 April to 14 April 2024.
6,875 HAF vouchers were sent of which there were:
- 5,794 free school meals
- 1,081 Vulnerable
30 Providers delivered schemes
10,460 sessions offered in total. 1,325 of which were SEND specific
1,254 Individual young people booked session of which there were:
- 763 FSM Primary and mixed
- 92 FSM Secondary
- 399 Vulnerable
4,454 sessions were attended of which there were:
- 3,972 Primary and mixed
- 482 Secondary
- 153 SEND
Vouchers issued
Of the 6,875 HAF Vouchers sent to parents/carers, 5,794 (84%) were for young people identified as in receipt of benefit related free school meals and uploaded to WONDE by schools.
There were 1,081 (16%) vouchers sent to vulnerable young people referred to HAF by professionals or schools to:
- Prevent isolation
- Support families on low incomes but not in receipt of free school meals
- Provide activities and food for young people being supported by Children’s Services
- Support families with children with SEND
- Encourage routine and structure for young people not attending school to work toward a return to school in the new term
Individual Young People booked on sessions
1,254 young people were booked on to activities.
- 763 (61%) young people booked onto sessions available to primary and secondary school age
- 92 (7%) young people booked on sessions for secondary age
- 399 (32%) young people booked on sessions for SEND
Sessions attended
The total number of session attended was 4,454.
- 3972 (89%) were categorised as Primary and mixed school age sessions
- 482 (11%) were Secondary school age sessions
Of the 4,454 sessions attended, 153 (3%) were SEND sessions.
Spring 2023 summary
We increased our number of providers and also the variety of activities our established providers are offering. We focused on discussions with providers to widen the age range to increase the offer to those in secondary school which led to new provision being created to better suit Key Stage 3 and 4 young people.
We also welcomed a new football provider affiliated with a local high school able to focus promotion in school and added another forest school, a horse-riding provider, local football club, and a provider focused on 'mad science' experiments to offer a more varied range of activities.
We took the decision to accept all providers who had offered an expression of interest to test if offering more varied provision may impact on the attractiveness of booking and increase attendance. Providers were encouraged to undertake more promotional activity, contact schools to give out marketing materials, offer schools free sessions and form relationships with local schools to maintain a presence.
We increased our centralised promotion, sending schools electronic HAF information to be added to newsletters, apps and emailed to parents. We continued to send posters to schools and community groups and all eligible parents/carers received a HAF letter with information and booking instruction.
Providers reported a lower update of provision than hoped so work was planned to increase promotion and encourage participation for Summer 2023.
About Summer 2023
Summer HAF ran 22 July to 9 September 2023.
7,605 HAF Vouchers were sent of which there were:
- 6,474 free school meals
- 1,131 vulnerable
28 Providers delivered schemes
21,055 sessions offered in total
2,726 of which were SEND specific
1,299 individual young people booked session of which there were:
- 757 FSM Primary and mixed
- 133 FSM Secondary
- 409 vulnerable
10,712 sessions were attended of which there were:
- 9,634 Primary and mixed
- 1,078 Secondary
- 802 SEND
Vouchers issued
Of the 7,605 HAF Vouchers sent to parents/carers, 6,474 (85%) were for young people identified as in receipt of benefit related free school meals and uploaded to WONDE by schools.
There were 1,131 (15%) Vouchers sent to vulnerable young people referred to HAF by professionals or schools to:
- Prevent isolation
- Support families on low incomes but not in receipt of free school meals
- Provide activities and food for young people being supported by Children’s Services
- Support families with children with SEND
- Encourage routine and structure for young people not attending school to work toward a return to school in the new term
Individual young people booked on sessions
- 1,299 young people were booked on to activities
- 757 (58%) young people booked onto sessions available to primary and secondary school age
- 133 (10%) young people booked on sessions for secondary age
- 409 (32%) young people booked on sessions for SEND
Sessions attended
The total number of session attended was 10,712.
- 9,634 (90%) were categorised as Primary and mixed school age sessions
- 1,078 (10%) were Secondary school age sessions
Of the 10,712 sessions attended, 802 (7%) were SEND sessions.
Summer summary
Uptake on attendance was much better than previous years, Bury was at 51%.
To increase uptake, we focussed on an earlier start to the preparations and publicity, more promotion within schools. External Banners were sent to schools and partners to display outside their facilities. Further promotion will be explored for Winter HAF based on discussions at regional and national forums to share good practice.
Feedback from Quality Assurance visits were very positive, reporting the programmes to be inclusive, well organised and structured. The children were engaged, focussed and had fun! Nutritional food was provided by all providers, being reported as good overall and catering for all dietary needs. Some children reported back that there was a lack of variety which was picked up for Winter provision and food offer.
Following Summer, we contacted the internal Council Education Team to share data and ask for support in engaging with schools to promote HAF and encourage parents to book their children onto activities. This enabled the HAF team access to SENCO networks, DSL forums, PHSE groups and promotion across service social media.
Attendance at HAF SEND provision was lower than in previous holidays however the local SEND Parent forum offered low cost specific high needs provision during the summer holidays, which had previously been offered through HAF, so encouraged access to suitable holiday activity via an alternative route.
About Winter 2023
Winter HAF ran 23 December to 7 January 2023
7,597 HAF Vouchers were sent of which there were:
- 6,547 free school meals
- 1,050 vulnerable
17 Providers delivered schemes
4,279 sessions offered in total 204 of which were SEND specific
569 Individual young people booked session of which there were:
- 281 FSM Primary and mixed
- 26 FSM Secondary
- 262 vulnerable
1,545 sessions were attended of which there were:
- 1,272 Primary and mixed
- 273 Secondary
- 45 SEND
Vouchers issued
Of the 7,597 HAF Vouchers sent to parents/carers, 6,547 (86%) were for young people identified as in receipt of benefit related free school meals and uploaded to WONDE by schools.
There were 1,050 (14%) vouchers sent to vulnerable young people referred to HAF by professionals or schools to:
- Prevent isolation
- Support families on low incomes but not in receipt of free school meals
- Provide activities and food for young people being supported by Children’s Services
- Support families with children with SEND
- Encourage routine and structure for young people not attending school to work toward a return to school in the new term
Individual people booked on sessions
569 young people were booked on to activities.
- 281 (49%) young people booked onto sessions available to primary and secondary school age
- 26 (5%) young people booked on sessions for secondary age
- 262 (46%) young people booked on sessions for SEND
Sessions attended
The total number of session attended was 1,545.
- 1,272 (82%) were categorised as Primary and mixed school age sessions
- 273 (18%) were Secondary school age sessions
Of the 1,545 sessions attended, 45 (3%) were SEND sessions.
Winter summary
We provided a range of HAF activities, and hot, hearty food where applicable, to children over the Christmas holidays, and feedback from providers and families was positive.
However, the take up by families was relatively low, and the proportion of no-shows and cancellations was high. This led to some provision having to be cancelled. Providers have fed back that they felt that this was due to the timing of the school holidays. Christmas Day and Boxing Day fell midweek in 2023 leaving only 4 days available to deliver HAF over the 2 weeks of the School Holidays. Schools broke up very close to Christmas so there was not the opportunity to offer HAF pre-Christmas activities that there has been in previous years.
Families had other activities they prioritised between Christmas and New Year. In the week after new year, school return dates differed between schools so that some families had booked activities and then realised their children were back in school.
HAF Winter 2024 will experience the same restrictions. Suggestions from some providers included offering sessions on Christmas and Boxing Day for providers and families not observing this religious festival.
We took the decision not to offer a remote HAF Winter offer as we couldn’t guarantee the collation of client level data and impact to ensure appropriate access and HAF guidance met.
22,077 HAF Vouchers were sent of which there were:
- 18,815 free school meals
- 3,262 vulnerable
39 Providers delivered schemes
35,794 sessions offered in total 4,255 of which were SEND specific
3,122 Individual young people booked session of which there were:
- 1,801 FSM Primary and mixed
- 251 FSM Secondary
- 1,070 vulnerable
16,711 sessions were attended of which there were:
- 14,878 Primary and mixed
- 1,833 Secondary
- 1,000 SEND
Vouchers issued
Of the 22,077 HAF Vouchers sent to parents/carers, 18,815 (85%) were for young people identified as in receipt of benefit related free school meals and uploaded to WONDE by schools.
There were 3,262 (15%) Vouchers sent to vulnerable young people referred to HAF by professionals or schools to:
- Prevent isolation
- Support families on low incomes but not in receipt of free school meals
- Provide activities and food for young people being supported by Children’s Services
- Support families with children with SEND
- Encourage routine and structure for young people not attending school to work toward a return to school in the new term
Individual young people booked on sessions
3,122 young people were booked on to activities.
- 1,801 (58%) young people booked onto sessions available to primary and secondary school age
- 251 (8%) young people booked on sessions for secondary age
- 1,070 (34%) young people booked on sessions for SEND
Sessions attended
The total number of session attended was 16,711.
- 14,878 (89%) were categorised as Primary and mixed school age sessions
- 1,833 (11%) were Secondary school age sessions
Of the 16,711 sessions attended, 1,000 (6%) were SEND sessions.
Places offered Vs places attended by holiday period
Attendance of places varied quite widely between holiday periods with 42% for Spring, 51% in Summer and just 36% for Winter. Overall attendance was 46%.
A contributing factor to this is the Winter holiday having very low attendance as there were only 17 providers offering activities, less choice of activates, and there was a limited choice of days due to Christmas Day, Boxing Day, New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day being mid-week.
Parents booked onto the limited session to avoid missing out, but family commitments over the festive period, and less variety of activities will have affected their decision to attend on the day.
| Offered | Attended | |
| Spring | 10,460 | 4,454 |
| Summer | 21,055 | 10,712 |
| Winter | 4,297 | 1,545 |
Information from the school census showed children receiving free school meals increased by 680 (12%) in April 2023 from the previous school census.
£639,505 (90%) was spent on provision across the year offering 35,794 places, an increase of 11% of places on 2022. Overall spend was £712,399, falling just below the total grant awarded of £712,840.
We were able to cover all locality townships across the borough and able to meet specific needs (including SEND), and increase our secondary provision with offers including: forest schools, multi sports play schemes, trips, specific sporting activity, drama, arts and crafts, enterprise, environment/nature and animal care.
16,711 (46%) of the 35,794 places on offer were attended directly affected by the timing of religious festivals in Spring and especially Winter.
SEND specific
Of the 35,794 sessions offered, 4,255 (12%) of which were SEND specific.
Of the 4,255 offered only 1000 (24%) were attended, lower than in previous holiday periods due to a local SEND Parent Forum delivering low-cost specific high needs specific provision during Summer, which had previously been offered through HAF, thus encouraging access to suitable holiday activity via an alternative route. This contributed to the reduced overall attendance.
Improving HAF
In 2022 we had a wide range of excellent provision but not all places were utilised.
Plans implemented to improve access in 2023 were successful and will be continued into 24/25. These included:
- Improved marketing and promotion earlier in schools so HAF information is shared further
- Improved support to ensure all Bury schools create vouchers in a timely fashion
- Simplified usage/training of the booking system and support and enable parents to book on and access more easily, providers able to manually add, and schools supporting parents
- Increased promotion across support services
- Continue with the exciting provision on offer with more accessible across all localities and an increased offer for older young people so that it is innovative and engaging
- Changed the funding structure to encourage providers to undertake their own promotion and responsibility for participation
- Review the staggered voucher release to enable access to provision for families on free school meals to increase take up
- Increased direct work with providers to reduce costs, but expand offers, to enable us to fund more provision and better meet need
- Work with local charities and smaller community based activity providers to better understand need and encourage access through supporting them offering HAF provision and encouraging their to access
2023 in conclusion
During 2023 we expanded our reach, offered provision across all localities of Bury, delivered a wider range of activities and improved the communication and experience of our providers, partners, parents/carers and young people.
Attendance remains an issue, but measures have been identified by reviewing provider and service user feedback, and collaborating with providers to improve promotion of HAF.
Focus will be given to increasing publicity of activities within schools, professionals and settings; improving communication with parents and young people; and widening the media spread.
The increase of involvement from the steering group, provider forums and access to regional groups has supported the sharing of good practice and support to drive improvement.
Quality assurance activity and feedback mechanisms have shown us that our providers are increasingly getting it right and truly understand the ethos of HAF.
In summary, the HAF programme in Bury continues to evolve, reaching more children, promoting inclusivity, and enhancing their well-being during school holidays. The changes implemented during 2023 improved the offer but more is still needed to increase reach.