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Fun and Food Programme for Children in Receipt of Benefits-related Free School Meals (Summer 2026)

Durham County Council

This public procurement record has 2 releases in its history.

Award

05 Aug 2026 at 16:53

UK7 - Contract Details Notice
Tender

08 May 2026 at 14:48

UK4 - Tender Notice
Summary of the contracting process

Durham County Council procured services for its Fun and Food Programme for school-aged children in County Durham who receive benefits-related free school meals. The programme combines food provision with enrichment and physical activities, education on healthy eating and positive lifestyles, signposting and referrals, family support, safeguarding, and appropriate policies and procedures. Delivery is within County Durham. The requirement falls within education and training, health and social work, recreational, cultural and sporting, and community services. Sessions could also include children who are not eligible for the Department for Education funding where providers use alternative funding, including charges to parents or carers. The council sought multiple providers rather than a single organisation, allowing specialist activity, sports, food, education and community organisations to contribute.

The procurement is complete and has been awarded through a below-threshold open competition. It had one lot, with an estimated value of £600,000, and bids were due by 5 June 2026 at 10:00. The evaluation used essential pass/fail criteria and a pass/fail assessment of each provider’s summer delivery proposal, with full requirements in the tender documents. Contracts were signed on 22 or 29 June 2026. Awards went to Bella Marie Training Academy Ltd (£4,800), Creative Kitchen (£4,000), Fast Feet Football Academy Ltd (£5,000), Home on the Range Ltd (£240,000), Kalma Life Sunderland (£3,000), Kalma Life Gateshead & North Durham (£22,000), Karbon Homes (£20,000), SportsCool Durham (£115,000), Lingotot Redcar (£1,650), Mendes Management Ltd (£10,360), Michael Coghlan Football Coaching (£15,000), Active Future Durham (£16,000), Shape Performance Ltd (£11,000), and Simply Sport Ltd (£22,000). Contract delivery ran from 20 July to 30 or 31 August 2026, with extension or variation possible to 31 December 2026 for successful delivery.

This award demonstrates demand from Durham County Council for locally delivered holiday provision combining meals, enrichment, sport, physical activity and wider support for children receiving benefits-related free school meals. The successful supplier group included small and medium-sized businesses, a voluntary and community organisation, larger providers, sports academies, a cookery provider, a language provider, a housing organisation and specialist wellbeing or activity businesses. A credible future competitor would therefore need the operational capacity to run safe, engaging sessions for school-aged children, reliable food provision, appropriately qualified activity staff, and experience working with children and families. Strong safeguarding arrangements, relevant policies and procedures, healthy-lifestyle content, referral and signposting capability, and evidence of successful delivery against clear standards would be important. Organisations able to work collaboratively across community locations and offer varied activities are particularly well aligned.

How relevant is this notice?

Notice Information

Notice Title

Fun and Food Programme for Children in Receipt of Benefits-related Free School Meals (Summer 2026)

Notice Description

The Council wishes to seek multiple Providers to deliver the Fun and Food programme to Children in Receipt of Benefits-related Free School Meals within the boundaries of County Durham. This project utilises Department for Education (DfE) funding which is for school aged children in receipt of benefits related free school meals. All providers must meet DfE framework of standards as below: * Food Provision * Enrichment Activities * Physical Activities * Increasing Awareness of Healthy Eating, healthy lifestyles, and positive behaviours * Signposting and referrals and supporting families * Safeguarding * Policies and Procedures Please note - sessions do not need to be exclusively for children in receipt benefits-related Free School Meals, alternative funding may be sourced by the organisation to fund children ineligible for DfE funding i.e parents/carers may be charged for sessions by the activity organisation. Providers will be asked to bid and submit a proposal for the Summer Holidays 2026. Successful Providers' contracts, as delivered under the Summer 2026 holiday provision, may be extended/varied to cover delivery in the Christmas school holiday period. At the sole discretion of the Council, providers will be identified and approached for Christmas delivery, this is likely to be dependent on successful achievement from Summer 2026 delivery under this contract and Commissioners professional judgement. If Successful Providers meet the threshold that the Commissioner deems as successful delivery, they will be emailed a proposal form for completion for the next school holiday period. The same evaluation criteria will be applied to the subsequent proposals. There is also a possibility that DCC may acquire funding from different sources that may be used for main school holidays, half term holidays or funding for participants to attend that are not in receipt of Benefits-related Free School Meals. Where this is the case successful providers will be updated regarding the scope of delivery.

Lot Information

Lot 1

Renewal: Successful Providers' contracts, as delivered under the Summer 2026 holiday provision, may be extended/varied to cover delivery in the Christmas school holiday period. At the sole discretion of the Council, providers will be identified and approached for Christmas delivery, this is likely to be dependent on successful achievement from Summer 2026 delivery under this contract and Commissioners professional judgement. If Successful Providers meet the threshold that the Commissioner deems as successful delivery, they will be emailed a proposal form for completion for the next school holiday period. The same evaluation criteria will be applied to the subsequent proposals.

Notice Details

Publication & Lifecycle

Open Contracting ID
ocds-h6vhtk-0694db
Publication Source
Find A Tender Service
Latest Notice
https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/074390-2026
Current Stage
Award
All Stages
Tender, Award

Procurement Classification

Notice Type
UK7 - Contract Details Notice
Procurement Type
Standard
Procurement Category
Services
Procurement Method
Open
Procurement Method Details
Below threshold - open competition
Tender Suitability
SME, VCSE
Awardee Scale
Large, SME

Common Procurement Vocabulary (CPV)

CPV Divisions

80 - Education and training services

85 - Health and social work services

92 - Recreational, cultural and sporting services

98 - Other community, social and personal services

CPV Codes

80000000 - Education and training services

85000000 - Health and social work services

92000000 - Recreational, cultural and sporting services

98000000 - Other community, social and personal services

Notice Value(s)

Tender Value
£600,000 £500K-£1M
Lots Value
£600,000 £500K-£1M
Awards Value
Not specified
Contracts Value
£467,810 £100K-£500K

Notice Dates

Publication Date
5 Aug 20261 months ago
Submission Deadline
5 Jun 2026Expired
Future Notice Date
Not specified
Award Date
Not specified
Contract Period
Not specified - Not specified
Recurrence
Not specified

Notice Status

Tender Status
Complete
Lots Status
Complete
Awards Status
Active
Contracts Status
Active

Buyer & Supplier

Contracting Authority (Buyer)

Main Buyer
Durham County Council
Contact Name
Available with D3 Tenders Premium →
Contact Email
Available with D3 Tenders Premium →
Contact Phone
Available with D3 Tenders Premium →

Buyer Location

Locality
DURHAM
Postcode
DH1 5WB
Postcode Area
Durham
Country
England
Major Region (ITL 1)
TLC North East (England)
Basic Region (ITL 2)
TLC4 Northumberland, Durham and Tyne & Wear
Small Region (ITL 3)
TLC41 Durham
Delivery Location
TLC14 Durham
Local Authority
County Durham
Electoral Ward
Framwellgate & Newton Hall
Westminster Constituency
City of Durham

Supplier Information

Number of Suppliers
14
Supplier Names

Bella Marie Training Academy

Creative Kitchen

FAST FEET FOOTBALL ACADEMY LTD

Home On The Range Ltd

kalma life sunderland

Kalma Life Gateshead & North Durham

Karbon Homes

SJ SSC LIMITED

Lingotot Redcar

MENDES MANAGEMENT LTD

Michael Coghlan Football Coaching

NMC SPORTS LTD

SHAPE Performance

SIMPLY SPORT LIMITED

Further Information

Notice Documents

Open Contracting Data Standard (OCDS)

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