The flexibility given to councils to manage the provision of the Holiday Activity and Food Programme has enabled a much more cross-departmental and preventative approach, says Tom Neill

Local councils were given just over 40 days to prepare for the nationwide rollout of the Holiday Activity and Food (HAF) programme supporting children on free school meals to access activities and food over the holidays. Like many pandemic-era projects, councils were needed to fill in the gaps and implement a hastily assembled central Government policy.