Plinth for local authoritiesHAF
Holiday Activity & Food Programmes
Provider onboarding, central booking, FSM eligibility checks and DfE reporting for your HAF programme, on one login.
Trusted by 5 local authorities
Trusted by local authorities across England
- 6,000+children across 15+ providersCamden Council
- 30+local organisations delivering HAFIslington Council
- 46local organisations across the areaEast Riding of Yorkshire
Providers
Providers add activities, you approve them
Providers submit dates, venues, capacity and age groups through a 7-step form. Your team approves, asks for changes or rejects each one before it goes live.
- 10 or 100 providers, each managing their own
- Oversight of the whole programme
Booking page
One booking page for families
Families browse every approved activity in your programme and book free sessions in one place, without anyone chasing providers for availability.
- Filter by age, venue, accessibility and day, or search
- Waitlists, and a warning on overlapping bookings
- Reminders with venue details and a map link
- Wellbeing WorkshopsHF Mencap Activity Centre · Every Wednesday, 17:00–19:00By YDP HF Mencap · ages 13–258 left
- Muay Thai & Boxing MasterclassAddison Primary School · Wed 29 Oct, 10:00–14:30By LMP Action · ages 11–163 left
- Cookery CourseNourish Hub · Thu 16 Oct + 4 more, 10:00–12:00By UKHarvest Limited · ages 18–2512 left
- DanceWest Holiday ClubLyric Theatre Hammersmith · Mon 27 – Fri 31 Oct, 9:30–15:30By Dancewest London Limited · ages 5–11Waitlist
- Creative Arts & CraftsTalacre Community Centre · Mon 27 Oct, 10:00–15:00By Camden Sport · ages 5–1115 left
- Football TournamentRegent's Park Hub · Tue 28 Oct, 9:00–16:00By Elite Pathways · ages 8–166 left
FSM eligibility
Eligibility checked as families book
Send your free school meals list to the Plinth team and we load it. Each booking is checked against it, and anything that doesn't match goes to your team to review.
- Free sessions for eligible families only
- Others see paid options or how to apply
Registers
Attendance on the day, digital or printed
Providers mark attendance on any device or print a register. Walk-ons and no-shows feed straight into your reporting.
- Print a day, a week or any date range
- Eligible and non-eligible walk-ons counted apart
- Bulk import from Excel or CSV
DfE returns
Q36 and Q38, ready when you need them
Eligibility, capacity and attendance broken down by FSM status, SEND, age group and provider. Filter by date, provider or venue, then export to CSV.
- Q36: FSM, SEND and EHCP, booked against attended
- Q38: activities, providers, venues and utilisation
Shaped by the councils that run it
Plinth is built for local authority HAF coordinators, with features shaped by the councils already using it. If your council needs a breakdown the DfE templates don't give you, we can configure a bespoke report.
Common questions
How does our free school meals list get into Plinth?
You send your FSM list to the Plinth team and we load it for you; it is not a self-serve upload. Once it is loaded, each booking is checked against it as the family books.
What happens when a booking doesn't match the list?
It goes to your team for manual review, and a coordinator can approve it by hand, so no eligible child is turned away. Only eligible families can book free sessions. Families who aren't eligible see paid options or are directed to apply.
Which DfE questions does Plinth report on?
Q36, the eligibility breakdown: FSM, SEND and EHCP, with booked against attended numbers and attendance rates. And Q38, capacity and utilisation: activities, providers, venues and utilisation by provider. Both filter by date range, provider or venue and export to CSV. If your council needs a breakdown neither covers, we can configure a bespoke reporting template.
How do providers take attendance?
On any device on the day, with changes synced to every coordinator as they happen, or from a printed register. Registers are generated sorted by time slot, with custom fields for each activity, for a single day, a full week or any date range. Walk-ons are recorded, with eligible and non-eligible walk-ons counted separately, no-shows are flagged, and attendance can be imported in bulk from Excel or CSV.
Ready to simplify your HAF programme?
Camden, Islington, Hammersmith & Fulham, South Tyneside and East Riding all run their Holiday Activity & Food programmes on Plinth.