Senior councillors in Solihull have been told that urgent changes must be made to the holiday activity and food programme (HAFP) to secure funding for this summer. The programme supports thousands of lower-income families during school breaks.
Funding and Eligibility Changes
The government has extended the programme for three more years but reduced Solihull Council's funding from £962,410 to £925,760. To comply with new rules, officers recommended tightening eligibility to include only vulnerable children and those from low-income families. Last year, 10,000 children aged 4–16 were eligible, with 2,547 participating.
A report to the cabinet stated: “There are 4,950 families in receipt of Universal Credit, of which 4,156 are already eligible due to meeting the income-related threshold for free school meals. Applying the new income-related threshold will bring a further 784 families into potential eligibility.”
Concerns Over SEND Children
However, this approach means children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) whose families are not on low incomes would no longer qualify unless another factor applies. To mitigate this, children’s services launched a new holiday offer under the short breaks programme, specifically for SEND children, with both free and subsidised places. This began during the Easter holidays.
Green group leader Councillor Max McLoughlin expressed concern: “It is quite a major change right before summer holidays that would prevent some children with SEND from accessing provision. I have concerns about whether this decision can be deferred for scrutiny.”
Austin Rodriguez, head of stronger communities, warned: “If we don’t put this change in for the summer, many children who should access HAFP will miss out.” Council leader Karen Grinsell asked if delaying risked losing the programme altogether. Rodriguez confirmed: “The risks are we are knowingly running a non-compliant programme.” Grinsell added: “Then they would potentially take the grant away?” Rodriguez replied: “That’s a risk.”
Conservative councillor Dave Pinwell said: “Everything I hear from the community shows this is an excellent programme. What we are talking about is continuous improvement, and we should get on with it.” Reform leader Councillor Samantha Gethen questioned why changes were left so close to the holidays. Rodriguez said: “This is the earliest we could bring this. We have gone as quickly as we can, consulted as much as we can.”
Andrew Felton, director of resources, warned of potential clawback from the government if the programme remained non-compliant, adding: “You all know our financial position; we can’t afford that level of exposure.” The cabinet agreed to the changes on May 28.
