Young Westminster Foundation and Westminster City Council have worked in partnership to distribute funding from the Department of Education to support activities and food for young people over the summer holidays.

The Holiday Activities and Food (HAF) Programme enables young people aged 4 to 16 on Free School Meals to take part in free activities run by local organisations across the borough. This includes physical activities, for example, cricket, basketball and swimming, creative activities such as music and drama and days out ranging from visiting an exhibition to getting out in nature. Each child who attends an activity will receive a free meal.

The funding over the upcoming holiday will enable over 70 local organisations to deliver sessions for children and young people in Westminster including those with special educational needs and disabilities.

Westminster City Council will also be providing Free School Meal (FSM) vouchers to all eligible children over the six-week school holiday. The funding will be distributed to eligible families in the form of supermarket vouchers and equates to £15 per child per week.

For the first time, the Council has made an additional £240k available to widen the HAF offer and reach even more young people in Westminster. This will enable young people aged 0 to 25 as well as those who fall just short of eligibility but are experiencing hardship to access the activities and food during the summer holidays for free.

Councillor Tim Roca, Cabinet Member for Young People, Learning and Leisure said: “We know that the rising cost of living is hitting our residents hard, particularly families on low incomes. We want to ensure that children in Westminster and their parents and carers feel supported and that is why we have increased our funding to the HAF programme this summer. We urge parents, carers and young people in Westminster who are experiencing hardship to reach out for support.”

Organisations receiving HAF Programme funding for summer 2022 are:

Adventure Play Hub, Ball Out the Box, Bloomsbury Football Foundation, Caxton Youth Organisation, Cycle Confident, DreamArts, ESP Foundation, Future Men, Happy Lizzy Event Planning, Hurdles2Hoops, Kulan Somali Organisation, London Basketball Association, Marylebone Bangladesh Society, Paddington Arts, Platform Cricket, Pro Touch SA, QPG Community & Sports Hub, St Andrew’s Youth Club, The Avenues Youth Project, , The Feathers Association, Treasure Boxing Club, Urban Flyers CIC, Ways 2 Work Coaching, Westbourne Park Family Centre, Westminster Children’s University, Westminster Supplementary School and Westside Basketball Club

Organisations receiving additional summer funding from Westminster City Council are:

2-3 Degrees, A2Dominion Housing Group, Abundance Arts, Adventure Play Hub, Al-Ola Supplementary School, Cardinal Hume Centre, Cartoon Museum, Central London Youth Development Trust, DreamArts, Family Lives, Fitzrovia Community Centre, The Floating Classroom, Grand Junction (PDT), Greenhouse Sports, Happy Lizzy Event Planning, Home-Start Westminster, Kensington & Chelsea and Hammersmith & Fulham, Institute of Contemporary Arts, Kulan Somali Organisation, London Tigers, Marylebone Bangladesh Society, New Pin Nursery, Octavia Foundation, Pimlico Foundation, Pro Touch SA, QPG Football Academy, Queen’s Park Bangladesh Association, Refugee Access, Somerset House, Sport4Health, St. Edward’s Catholic Primary School, St. Vincent’s Family Project, The Avenues Youth Project, The Royal Institution of Great Britain, Treasure Boxing Club, Westminster Befriend A Family, West London Zone, Westbourne Park Family Centra, Westminster Boating Base and ZSL London Zoo

Find out more about what’s on offer for children and young people this summer and sign up for programmes on ourcity.org.uk.