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Holiday Activities and Food (HAF)
HAF 2025
Summer HAF 2025 bookings are available now, and places are going quickly. Use the link below to secure your HAF places.
The Winter HAF 2025 offer will appear on our central booking tool from Monday 27 October onwards, with bookings going live the following week.
Funded by the DfE, HAF provides a programme of free activities during the school Easter, summer, and winter holidays, for people who receive benefits-related free school meals. Activities include sports, arts, music, and more.
Children and young people also receive a free balanced meal and snacks as part of their day.
There are no programmes during the half-term school holidays.
Watch our film below from a Brighton Table Tennis Club HAF holiday camp to get an idea of what HAF has to offer.
Keep updated
To be the first to be updated on HAF activity, send an email to HAF@brighton-hove.gov.uk to request to be added to our distribution list.
If you want us to stop sending you emails, ask and we'll delete your contact details from the distribution list.
HAF programmes are also running in East and West Sussex, with information available here:
Benefits-related free school meals are different from universal infant free school meals. Universal infant free school meals are not means-tested and provide free meals to all pupils in Reception, Year 1, and Year 2.
Children must have also started attending school.
There are no public discretionary HAF places. Benefits-related free school meals is the only eligibility criteria openly used in Brighton & Hove.
HAF standards
All HAF providers are required to demonstrate they meet the programme’s framework of standards as laid out by the Department for Education.
Providers are further supported to meet these standards through training and quality assurance visits.
Additional support for children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND)
We encourage those requesting a booking for a child with SEND to do this as soon as possible. We also encourage you to contact the provider to clarify what support would be required to fully integrate the child. All HAF providers are expected to make all reasonable adjustments. Failing to disclose information could lead to the placement breaking down.
These providers are being highlighted as they have higher staff ratios (1:4) to help support more children and young people with SEND. Please select a SEND ticket.
Activ8 for Kids – (sports, dance, games, and crafts)
If you have questions about Brighton & Hove HAF or need support with the booking tool, send an email to haf@brighton-hove.gov.uk.
How to apply for funding to help deliver HAF
If you're an activity or food provider interested in being part of Brighton & Hove’s HAF programme, send an email to haf@brighton-hove.gov.uk. We'll add you to our distribution list to keep you informed of future funding opportunities.
Funding for Summer HAF 2025 has been allocated, but we're still accepting applications for Winter HAF 2025.