This page explains the requirement to provide healthy food to participants in Fit for All sessions which are funded through Bring it on Brum using the Holiday Activities and Food fund. It sets out the rules and standards that are involved. And it explains the three options you have in relation to food provision: do-it-yourself; work with a local food partner; or work with one of the central food providers through either Fit for All or Bring it On Brum!
If you provide HAF-funded sessions as part of Fit for All, you should serve participants at least one meal during each session and a snack. For most groups providing HAF-funded sessions this will be a question of working with a local food partner or providing food from your own kitchens etc. Fit for All, however, includes children with a wide range of special needs alongside other vulnerable children and children and young people who are eligible for Free School Meals (FSM). There may be times when serving a meal is either not practical, or not the best way of meeting the aims of the HAF scheme. If you are in this position, you should still read this guidance; and work with Children’s Quarter (who coordinate Fit for All) to develop a proposal that will most nearly fit with what is intended.
What kind of meal should be provided?
You can provide whatever meal is most appropriate given the timing of your sessions. HAF aims that providers should try to offer hot meals to participants. This is not always practical. Alternatives to hot plated meals are: cold plated meals; buffet meals; and packed lunches.
As well as a meal, Fit for All providers should provide participants with a healthy snack. All food provided at holiday clubs (including snacks) must meet school food standards.
Some general rules apply:
- All food must be stored appropriately and at the correct temperature.
- Drinking water should be available and easily accessible throughout every session.
- There should be no serving of fizzy drinks or drinks with added sugar (no added sugar dilute squashes etc are acceptable).
- No fried food can be served.
- Meals and snacks must meet at least 2 portions of a child’s 5 a-day of fruit and vegetables.
- Amounts of fat, salt & sugar should be limited.
- Attention to correct portion size should be exercised.
- Children with allergies must be safeguarded when eating food provided.
- Food and meals provided should be ethnically sensitive, evidence cultural awareness and must allow sufficient customisation in order to meet the food and eating requirements of the children and young part you have taking part.
School Meal Standard
As well as the general rules above, the meals you serve must meet School Meal Standards. Check the School Meal Standard out at the government website which also has a practical guide to using them.
The standards are also shown in brief as a table – which you can download below:
Customisation: Equal but Different
HAF rules say participants in funded sessions should all get the same food offer. Everyone should be treated equally including, for example if a session includes young people who are:
- entitled to Free School Meals (and attend free)
- disabled or vulnerable (and also attend free)
- paying to attend.
FFA providers, however, follow child-centred practice. We treat people as individuals and customise sessions according to their needs and abilities. That includes food. SEND (and non-SEND) children and young people often have particular food and eating requirements, habits, intolerances and preferences. Cultural and lifestyle choices also apply. So, for example, Halal, vegetarian and vegan food needs to be provided. Inclusive practice is based on treating participants equally, by serving them differently according to their needs and abilities.
Food Hygiene and Allergy Awareness
All food provided as part of HAF funded projects must comply with regulations on food preparation and food hygiene. It must take into account general and individual dietary requirements including guidance on food allergies. Bring it On Brum! provides links for Food Hygiene training and links to Allergy Awareness training. You can check them out yourself at the Bring it On Brum Free Training Site. Food Allergy training is available at the Food Standards Agency’s Free Online Food Safety Training site.
FFA also provides free online training in Food Safety.
Sample Menu
Groups that provide HAF-funded Fit for All sessions have to produce a sample menu showing how they will feed participants before each seasonal delivery: Easter, Summer and Winter. The sample menu gives an idea of your approach to food provision. It needs to be supplied to Bring It On Brum via Children’s Quarter.
Bring It On Brum produce a template for sample menus which should be used – it’s available here to download as a Word document.
Adding value through food activities
Making and serving meals on site can provide an opportunity to engage participants (and their families) in food preparation and nutritional education. If children are involved in designing menus and the preparation of meals, they are more engaged and may be more willing to try new and healthier food. Customising food to the requirements and habits of participants should be done in such a way as to create opportunities for experimentation by participants. Fit for All projects have had repeated successes in enabling children and young people to extend beneficially their food and eating choices and tolerances. HAF funded sessions can be valuable alternative settings for meals that are away from the family or school. Sometimes it is easier to try out new things away from the people we normally eat with.
Who provides the food – the three options
If you deliver HAF-funded sessions as part of Fit for All, then you have three options in relation to supplying food. You can:
- Provide food yourself (providing food includes preparing or cooking it, but it also means storing, handling and serving it for example). If you take this option, you will have to register as a food business and receive a 4* or 5* food hygiene rating after a public health inspection of your kitchen.
- Work with a local food partner – eg a school, catering business, restaurant, shop, café or community kitchen which is registered as a food business and has received a 4* or 5* food hygiene rating after a public health inspection.
- Work with one of the food partners in the Fit for All scheme or the central food provider for Bring it On Brum – these are registered food providers who are able to provide food at your location at the unit food cost funded by HAF.
If you take option 1 or 2 then the HAF food allowance will come to you. Your organisation, or the food partner you work with will be responsible for the legal, insurance, regulatory and food requirements of the HAF scheme and will have to be registered as a food business.
If you take option 3 then the HAF funding for food will go direct to the food partner. They will provide a meal and snack that meets the standards required and will be liable for meeting all the legal, insurance, regulatory and food requirements.
If you prepare your own food or work with a local food partner, you will need to provide 3 weeks before the start of each holiday delivery:
- The menu you will serve demonstrating how meals meet school food standards
- Details of the kitchen facilities you will use, ensuring they are registered with Birmingham City Council
- Confirmation of the latest food hygiene rating for the kitchen. Food hygiene ratings must be 4* or 5*
- The relevant insurance information relating to providing food onsite
- Evidence of staff training for Level 2 Food Hygiene
- Evidence of staff training for Allergy Awareness.
Registering as a Food Business
A food business is defined as anyone preparing, cooking, storing, handling, distributing, supplying or selling food. ‘Food businesses’ include:
- catering businesses run from home, mobile catering and temporary businesses;
- non-profit enterprises, charities and sole traders as well as companies and larger organisations
- organisations that store or deliver food as well as those which prepare and serve food
- schools, nurseries and community groups etc whose main work is something other than food as well as companies who specialise in food supply. (There are special arrangements for registered child-minders which are the responsibility of the local council).
You have to register as a food business at least 28 days before you start handling food. Once registered, you may be inspected by the local authority. Registration is free. You can be fined or sent to prison if you run a food business without being registered.
There is further information about Food Business Registration on the gov.uk site
The Food Standards Agency produces a guide to registering as a food business.