Every Child Can funding: will it reach your child?

The Department for Culture, Media and Sport strategy includes “£132.5 million for the provision of services, facilities or opportunities” for young people, with a stated aim to “increase disadvantaged young people’s access to enrichment opportunities”.

The wider dormant-assets funding estimate depends on future flows into the scheme, so parents should treat official allocations as the safest current figure rather than assuming every future pound is guaranteed.

Current official material describes youth-focused dormant-assets funding for services, facilities or opportunities. It is not ordinary school-budget money.

Current official materials do not confirm a fixed per-school or per-pupil allocation, or a direct grant for parents.

DfE names five enrichment categories: civic engagement; arts and culture; nature, outdoor and adventure; sport and physical activities; and wider life skills.

Each local area may offer a different mix depending on providers, staffing, venues, transport and demand.

Current official materials do not confirm a direct parent application process.

Parents are more likely to hear about places through schools, local authorities, youth organisations or community providers once local offers are announced.

The policy aim is to reduce barriers and widen access, especially for disadvantaged and underrepresented young people.

Some places may be free, some subsidised and some prioritised. Current official materials do not support saying every place will be free.

The policy and news framing include activities beyond normal lessons, but HAF remains a separate holiday programme in England.

Do not assume every area will get new weekend or holiday places under this package until local plans are published.

DfE says School Profiles will include information about enrichment opportunities, based on the five categories, and that parents should be able to know what experiences children can access.

DfE also says it will consult on how enrichment is embedded, so this should not be written as a finished live feature for every school.

The dormant-assets mechanism operates across the UK, but the Department for Culture, Media and Sport strategy page applies to England and says devolved administrations and TNLCF are responsible for dormant-assets funding in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Do not assume identical school, inspection or youth-service arrangements outside England.

Activities that help children take part in school, local or community life.

Volunteering, school council, youth voice, social action or community projects.

Will pupils have a real choice of activities, or only one whole-school event?

Opportunities to create, perform, visit and experience culture.

Music, drama, dance, creative arts, museum or gallery visits and cultural trips.

Are instruments, materials, trips or transport included in the cost?

Individual and team activities that help children move, practise skills and take part.

Team sport, dance, fitness, cycling, representing the school or attending live events.

Will beginners be welcomed, or is the club mainly for children already confident in the activity?

Experiences that take children outdoors and connect learning with the natural world.

Outdoor time, gardening, sustainability projects, climate education, camps or residentials.

How will kit, weather, transport, medical needs and accessibility be handled?

Practical skills that build independence, confidence and future readiness.

Cooking, debating, managing money, coding, teamwork or communication activities.

Will the activity suit your child’s age, confidence and support needs?

A separate England programme where local authorities co-ordinate free holiday provision, including healthy food and enriching activities, for eligible children.

HAF has its own eligibility rules, mainly linked to benefits-related free school meals, plus limited local flexibility. It is not the same as Every Child Can funding.

School-age childcare and breakfast provision before the school day.

Breakfast clubs can help with childcare and food, but they are not the same as enrichment benchmarks across arts, sport, nature, civic life and life skills.

Childcare support with its own age, work and eligibility rules.

It is childcare funding, not a new entitlement to extracurricular or enrichment experiences.

School funding to help improve outcomes for disadvantaged pupils.

It is not a parent grant for clubs and should not be treated as the same funding pot.

The general funding schools use for staffing, teaching and running costs.

Dormant-assets funding is a separate social-good funding mechanism, not routine core school funding.

Bursaries, scholarships or fee arrangements set by individual independent schools.

Every Child Can is about enrichment access, not private school fees.

The parent-facing name for the announced enrichment-access package linked to £132.5m of youth-focused dormant-assets funding. Local delivery details are still developing.

Activities within or beyond school that broaden children’s experiences and help them build skills, confidence, interests and wider development beyond ordinary lesson content.

A planned set of expectations for schools and colleges to provide access to the five enrichment categories.

A voluntary scheme where participating financial firms transfer some dormant assets after trying to reunite owners with their money; surplus funding supports social or environmental causes.

The named distributor of dormant-assets funding, receiving surplus funding from Reclaim Fund Ltd.

Planned school information pages that DfE says should include information about enrichment opportunities, based on the five categories.

The Holiday Activities and Food programme: a separate England programme funding local authorities to co-ordinate free holiday provision for eligible children.