A diverse group of teenagers eat lunch at a picnic table outdoors, whilst others play football and hula hoop in the background. The image features Connect4Communities, Hampshire County Council, and UK Government logos.
This summer we will have around 25 Holiday Activities and Food (HAF) schemes running across the New Forest area, each offering a variety of fun activities and tasty meals for children and young people who receive benefit-related free school meals (FSM)
Funded by the Department for Education, the HAF programme enables local authorities to offer healthy food and enriching activities for free to children who receive benefit-related FSM during term time.
Local authorities also have discretion to use a percentage of their funding to provide free or subsidised HAF places for children who are not in receipt of benefits-related FSM but who the local authority believe could benefit from HAF provision.
Families in the New Forest can browse the New Forest HAF bookings webpage to find local schemes and register their interest.
Once registered, parents/carers will be sent an automatic email reminder to complete their booking when summer bookings open at 9.00am on Monday 22 June 2026.
HAF FAQs are available on the connect4communities website: Hampshire Holiday Activities and Food (HAF) frequently asked questions | Hampshire County Council
The HAF team can be contacted with any queries by emailing connect4communities@hants.gov.uk, with the subject line FAO HAF.
