Deadline: 9-Jan-23
The Community Foundation for Calderdale is seeking applications for the Healthy Holidays Calderdale 2023.
The Department for Education (DfE) has identified funds for local authorities to try and remove the holiday experience gap. This is where children from lower income families can lose the stimulus and physical activity from the routine of school life during the holidays. They also lose their free school meals. To address this issue, the DfE have provided each local authority with funds to provide holiday activity schemes. The funding is for children eligible for benefits-related free school meals. Part of the requirement is that a) at least one HOT meal is provided per session, and b) at least 60 minutes of physical exercise is provided per session.
Objectives
- These are the main objectives for eligible children:
- To eat more healthily over the school holidays
- To be more active during the school holidays
- To take part in engaging and enriching activities which support the development of resilience, character and well-being along with their wider education attainment
- To be safe and not to be socially isolated
- To have greater knowledge of health nutrition
- To be more engaged with school and other local services
- To ensure that families who participate in the programme develop their understanding of nutrition and food budgeting
- To signpost families towards other information and support. For example health, employment and education
What are they seeking to fund?
- They want to fund an impressive range of physical and enriching activities providing children with the opportunity to have hours of fun, discover new passions and find their own way to getting active. They would like this provision to focus on geographical areas of need and be inclusive to children with Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) or additional needs.
Eligibility Criteria
- They welcome applications from a wide variety of organisations for example child minders, wraparound care providers, activity groups, schools and community/voluntary/social enterprise sector and other groups.
- You can form partnerships to apply. Examples of this could be food providers working with small sports groups, arts organisations, and schools. To meet the 7 required DfE standards they expect a lot of groups to work in partnership e.g. to benefit from sports or arts or nutrition expertise. For a partnership application there will need to be a LEAD applicant. This organisation will be accountable for monitoring and finance and must meet one of the criteria below:
- Constituted voluntary, community and faith groups run for and by local people (individuals cannot apply)
- Registered charities and groups with charitable purposes working in Calderdale, (including Charitable Incorporated Organisations, IPS etc)
- Community Interest Companies (CICs) who do not, and cannot, pay dividends. CFFC recognises that other kinds of organisation may also carry out activities which are charitable. This may include Social Enterprises, Community Interest Companies, and Companies limited by guarantee. Organisations that do not fully meet the not-for-profit criteria but do carry out activities which are charitable and have a clear public benefit can be supported where:
- There is demonstrable public benefit and clear protection against private benefit
- The organisation has a minimum of three directors, the majority of whom are not paid employees
- The salaries and benefits of any paid directors must be approved by most non-executive directors and must be reasonable and proportionate to the work they do and the financial position of the organisation
- CICs must have an asset lock body with objectives which are both charitable and like the CIC CFFC is unlikely to award a grant of more than £5,000 to CICs or social enterprises which allow for payment to members of their governing body
- Community Amateur Sports Schemes (CASCs) whose Governance documents include a clear community benefit clause, open membership and an asset lock
- Schools (except private, fee charging schools), whether part of the Local Authority or direct funded in some way, to apply for grants for activities which are clearly extra-curricular. CFFC welcomes applications from PTAs/Friends of School groups and Academies.
- Partnership projects are particularly welcomed.
- They expect that organisations whose previous years income was more than £5K will be registered as Charities, CIOs, CICs or will have some form of other appropriate legal status. This is a legal requirement. If organisations apply to CFFC who have had an annual income of more than £5k but have not registered, then confirmation of planned registration with a timescale will be required
- They will check registered charities, CICs etc with the Charity Commission and Companies House, as appropriate, to ensure that returns to the appropriate authority are in on time. Where this isn’t the case, they will approach the applying organisation for an explanation. If the explanation for a late return is not felt to be reasonable, a grant award will not be made. Applications will not be considered from that organisation until the situation is rectified.
- This fund is for children resident in Calderdale who are eligible for benefits-related free school meals. Children in key stage 1 having free school meals as part of the universal school programme are not eligible. Therefore, pupils in key stage 1 must also be eligible for benefits-related FSM to be able to access a place on the HAF programme. Calderdale Council has discretion to use up to 15% of HAF funding to provide free or subsidised holiday places for children who are not in receipt of free school meals. These children must fall into one of the following categories:
- Children assessed by the LA as being in need, at risk or vulnerable
- Young carers
- Looked-after (or previously looked-after) children
- Children with an EHC (Education, Health & Care Plan)
- Children with low attendance rates at school or at risk of exclusion
- Children of families who are refugees or asylum seekers (including Ukrainian refugees)
- As a provider, you can set aside 15% of your places to incorporate some or all of the children not on school meals e.g. looked-after children. It is at your discretion. Reaching children on free school meals is the focus of this fund but you can keep some spaces for children who are vulnerable but not on free school meals.
For more information, visit DfE.