Cheshire East HAF Programme praised nationally for exceptional reach and support

Cheshire East Council’s Holiday Activities and Food Programme (HAF) has been highly commended by the Department for Education, for its support during half term holidays for children and young people in receipt of income-related free school meals.

Latest figures show Cheshire East’s  HAF programme exceeded the national average attendance by more than 15 per cent, securing its place as one of the top performing local authorities for the scheme across the country.

Since its launch in 2021, the scheme has provided nutritious meals and a wide range of fun, educational activities for children aged 5–16. Thanks to additional funding, the programme will now continue until at least 2026.

For the first time this year, sessions were offered during the October half term, alongside Easter, summer, and winter holidays. Activities include baking, arts and crafts, sports, and interactive experiences – all designed to support physical health, social skills, and mental wellbeing.

The 2025 summer programme alone supported 2,384 children and young people who accessed 20,964 booked sessions, translating into more than 83,000 hours of support.
30 per cent of the scheme’s attendees were identified as having special educational needs (SEND) – showcasing the programme’s inclusivity, while the delivery network has expanded with 29 providers signed up to deliver the sessions.

Councillor Laura Crane, chair of Cheshire East’s children and families committee, said:

"This is fantastic recognition for our HAF programme, which continues to grow and improve year after year.

“The scheme offers much more than just something for our young people to do over the half terms – the activities on offer can help aid their physical and social skills, all while helping to support their mental wellbeing and providing them with nutrition in the form of a hot meal.
“I’ve no doubt the HAF Programme will continue to offer a wide range of varied activities over the Christmas holidays, and can’t wait to see what’s on offer

“These latest high figures of attendance and increased bookings is a testament to the hard work of not only our early help teams at the council but the external providers that we work so closely with, so a huge thank you to everyone who has enabled us to keep these sessions running successfully.”

Bookings are now open for the Christmas holidays, and available sessions can be found here: 

EQU site. 

More information can be found here:

HAF webpage.