The Department for Education (DfE) is inviting local authorities, charities and other third sector organisations, and holiday club providers to apply for a new £9 million fund to coordinate a more joined up approach to the delivery of free holiday clubs for disadvantaged pupils in up to nine Local Authority Areas in England.
The aims of this grant programme are to develop a more efficient and joined-up approach to free holiday provision for disadvantaged children; and to ensure there is enough good quality free holiday provision to meet the demand from children eligible for free school meals (FSM), in the local authority during the 2019 summer holidays.
The scheme follows a successful £2 million programme in the summer of 2018, which saw charities and community groups provide meals and activities such as football, play sessions and cooking classes for more than 18,000 children across the country. The closing date for applications is the 7th February 2019.
Among the charities granted funding in 2018 were StreetGames, which brings sport to disadvantaged children, and OnSide Youth Zones, which runs a network of clubs for young people to socialise, take part in enriching activities and learn new skills.
The DfE are not specifying which local authority areas they want grant recipients to work in and are asking bidders to set out which area they want to work in, and why. Ideally the DfE want to achieve a good spread of areas in terms of geography, LA structure and levels of deprivation. Bidders are able to bid for funding to cover up to two local authorities and must complete a separate application form for each area.
The closing date for applications is the 7th February 2019.
We trust this is useful and please feel free to re-circulate details ‘far and wide’.
Kindest regards
Edwin 
