Holidays, Activities and Food (HAF) services (SC240025)
The Holiday Activities and Food (HAF) Programme in Kent focuses on children's physical health and wellbeing by providing healthy food and engaging activities for children and young people during the school holidays.
Families of children aged four to 16 years who are in receipt of benefits-related Free School Meals (FSM) can access free opportunities during the Easter, summer and Christmas holiday periods. The programme is funded by the Department for Education (DfE) and delivered in accordance with grant conditions set out in the Memorandum of Understanding agreed with Kent County Council (KCC).
This programme has been established to support families facing increased challenges during school holidays, including higher food and childcare costs and reduced household income. These pressures can make it more difficult for families to provide sufficient food and enrichment activities for children.
The HAF programme provides a range of enriching activities, supports children and young people to remain active, and helps reduce the risk of social isolation during school holidays. Participating families are also supported to develop their understanding of nutrition and food budgeting through access to information, guidance and support.
Timeline
Tender published18 April 2024
Contract start date3 February 2025
Award published2 July 2025
Submission date1 January 2026
Contract expiry date30 June 2027in 10 months
Lots (4)
61 suppliers across 4 lots
Lot 1
15 suppliers
The Holiday Activities and Food (HAF) Programme offers free places at holiday clubs at Easter, Summer and Christmas holiday periods to children and young people aged 4-16 years old who are in receipt of benefits-related free school meals. The funding for HAF is provided to Local Authorities through the Department for Education.
Subject to acquiring funding, it is Kent County Council’s intention to commission HAF provision for 2025/2026 and beyond. The Council therefore wants to conduct market engagement to determine the most appropriate service model for HAF provision across Kent.
As part of Kent County Council’s commitment to fairness, openness and transparency the Prior Information Notice (PIN) is issued solely for the purpose of conducting pre-procurement market testing with the following aims:
• To develop a suitable delivery model.
• To understand the market and readiness to deliver the HAF Programme across Kent.
• To explore the most viable commissioning approach to deliver the HAF Programme.
• To explore whether recruitment and retention to the model is achievable.
Currently, HAF funding is allocated through a grants process by one of KCC’s Local Authority Trading Companies (LATCO). However, KCC is seeking to engage with providers to explore alternative options to meet future delivery requirements.
As part of this process a short questionnaire and workshops are available to interested providers, with multiple time slots available. To register an interest in this opportunity providers must submit an ‘Expression of Interest’ (EOI) through the Kent Business Portal and complete the associated ‘Holiday Activities and Food Funding 2025/2026: Market Engagement Questions’.
By completing this questionnaire, providers will be able to provide their feedback and, if they wish to, select preferences for dates to attend market engagement workshops. Each workshop will cover the same questions.
These workshops will be delivered via Microsoft Teams and will last for 1.5 hours.
They are scheduled on the following dates:
• Wednesday 1 May 2024 – 10:00-11:30
• Wednesday 1 May 2024 – 13:00-14:30
• Thursday 9 May 2024 – 10:00-11:30
• Friday 10 May 2024 – 10.00-11.30
When selecting a preference for a workshop slot, please state your first and second preference, if possible, and we will try our best to accommodate.
If you are unable to attend the workshops and still wish to have an input, please ensure that you complete all sections of the questionnaire and submit this via the Kent Business Portal.
Please note that feedback from questionnaires and the workshops will be shared with every provider who has expressed an interest.
Please be aware that this PIN will close on Thursday 9th May 2024 at 17:00, and all responses will need to be submitted via the Kent Business Portal by this time.
East
18 suppliers
To access all Tender documentation relating to this Lot please use the following access link (if you only require the code please find it at the end of the link): https://www.kentbusinessportal.org.uk/respond/3UC4VA5FY3
If you experience any technical difficulties from accessing the above url, then please contact the Delta eSourcing Helpdesk on call 0800 923 9236 or email helpdesk@delta-esourcing.com. Additional information: Although 'Restricted Procedure' was selected, the process followed was in fact a 'Competitive Procedure with Negotiation' under the Light Touch Regime to establish a DPS under PCR2015. The system did not permit this combination, so it has been noted here for transparency.
South
14 suppliers
To access all Tender documentation relating to this Lot please use the following access link (if you only require the code please find it at the end of the link): https://www.kentbusinessportal.org.uk/respond/22995AWTMW
If you experience any technical difficulties from accessing the above url, then please contact the Delta eSourcing Helpdesk on call 0800 923 9236 or email helpdesk@delta-esourcing.com. Additional information: Although 'Restricted Procedure' was selected, the process followed was in fact a 'Competitive Procedure with Negotiation' under the Light Touch Regime to establish a DPS under PCR2015. The system did not permit this combination, so it has been noted here for transparency.
West
14 suppliers
As previous.To access all Tender documentation relating to this Lot please use the following access link (if you only require the code please find it at the end of the link): https://www.kentbusinessportal.org.uk/respond/GS375C4WW4
If you experience any technical difficulties from accessing the above url, then please contact the Delta eSourcing Helpdesk on call 0800 923 9236 or email helpdesk@delta-esourcing.com. Additional information: Although 'Restricted Procedure' was selected, the process followed was in fact a 'Competitive Procedure with Negotiation' under the Light Touch Regime to establish a DPS under PCR2015. The system did not permit this combination, so it has been noted here for transparency.
Framework analysis
Buyers and suppliers active on the Holidays, Activities and Food (HAF) services (SC240025) framework, ranked by contract award volume.
Top suppliers associated with Holidays, Activities and Food (HAF) services (SC240025)
Suppliers ranked by total contract award volume through Holidays, Activities and Food (HAF) services (SC240025).
