This page gives:
key dates for groups delivering over the Summer;
eligible days for HAF funded FFA sessions
the dates of school holidays in Birmingham and Solihull in 2023/24
explains the limits HAF funding places on the duration and number of funded sessions.
Key Dates for Providers
Partnership Agreements, Summer Planners and Booking/Register forms issued from 16 June – 24 June
Zoom Briefings for Summer Providers are on Mondays 2-3pm on 12, 19 and 26 June. See email and the FFA WhatsApp Board for links. The Briefings will go through the key documents needed to manage and account for funding:
- the Partnership Agreement
- the Summer Planner spreadsheet (spreadsheet)
- the Booking’Register Form (spreadsheet)
- the Final Claim and Report (spreadsheet).
Third Zoom on June 26 will also look in detail at registers, menus and activities and there will be a face to face session for FFA providers at All Saints Centre, Kings Heath on Friday 7 July (at the CQ AGM)
Signed Partnership Agreements and Summer Planners are due back by 7 July. Date for first invoices to be confirmed, but we should be in a position to pay 80% of agreed delivery costs from 10 July onwards. If you are stuck filling in a Summer Planner, then please get in touch for a demo via Zoom , or come to the Summer Briefing on 7 July at All Saints in Kings Heath.
We expect results of the separate Fit for You bid at the start of July – which means there is a potential Zoom on 3 July for providers that are also involved in the All Ages Autism Award proposal.
Menus, catering arrangements and sample activity plans due by Friday 7 July. If you haven’t got them done by them, make sure to come to the face to face briefing at the Summer Briefing in Kings Heath on 7 July and we will sort them out together.
The Summer Briefing is on Friday 7 July after the CQ AGM (come to both!). You can also book an individual zoom or face to face with CQ during July on request.
Summer Delivery runs 26 July – 1 September; Session Registers due each week during Summer Delivery. If doing a weekly register isn’t practical for you, please get in touch with CQ to agree an alternative arrangement.
Final Claim and Report due with CQ by 18 September. Final payments hopefully sorted by 30 September.
Fit for All Summer 23 WhatsApp is live now and will be updated with useful information – so please join the Board and keep your notifications turned on.
Which Days can HAF fund Fit for All Sessions?
Holiday Activities and Food (HAF) funding provides term-end school holiday physical activity and healthy food for children and young people who are eligible for Free School Meals. (It can also provide similar support for participants with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) and vulnerable children, many of whom are also eligible for FSM)=, whether they qualify on this basis or not.) HAF funding can only be used to provide Fit for All activities and healthy food during school holidays and on days when participants would otherwise be at school, ie not at weekends or on Bank Holidays.
Term-end School Holidays 2023/24
School Holidays in Birmingham and Solihull are:
- Easter school holidays Monday 3 – Friday 14 April inclusive
- Summer school holidays Wednesday 26 July – Friday 1 September inclusive
- Christmas school holidays – Monday 25 December – Friday 5 January inclusive.
The eligible days within these term-end school holidays when HAF funded sessions can be delivered are:
- during Easter 3-6 April and 11-14 April inclusive
- during Summer every weekday except for Bank Holiday Monday 28 August
- during Christmas 27-29 December 2023 and 2-5 January 2024 inclusive.
Time and Duration of HAF-funded sessions
There is no limit on the time of day at which sessions can take place on eligible days – although most HAF funded sessions take place at some point between 9am and 4pm.
HAF funding will not cover sessions of more than 4 hours duration (because 4 hours is the maximum length of funded sessions any participant is allowed in one day). This does not stop groups running sessions of 1.5, 2 or 3 hours etc if this is what best meets the needs of participants. Groups can also run sessions that last longer than 4 hours, but only 4 hours will be eligible for funding.
Groups can run as many sessions as they want per day. So for example, a group could run 3 sessions of two hours duration at 10-12noon 1-3pm and 4-6pm on each weekday – and all of these sessions would be eligible for funding so long as no child attends more than their allowed maximum of four hours funded session in the day.