Hot meals shouldn’t be a luxury they should be accessible for all, always. It’s easy to forget just how much a hot meal can mean to a child. When school’s out for summer, Easter, or Christmas that daily meal disappears for thousands of children across the UK. And when a family is already juggling too much with too little, the gap left behind isn’t just about food. It’s about routine, and peace of mind.
That’s where the Holiday Activities and Food (HAF) programme comes in, an initiative this initiative has been a lifeline for many households since its nationwide rollout. Backed by the Department for Education, the programme offers free activities and nutritious meals for children who receive benefits-related free school meals. It’s run through local authorities, but it relies on a whole web of charities, kitchens, schools, clubs and, in many cases, national courier services like ours.
You can read more about the government’s outline of the programme here.
Where It Started (And Why It Matters)
The HAF programme didn’t appear out of nowhere. It grew from pressure led by Marcus Rashford, who campaigned tirelessly for the government to support struggling families outside of term time. It wasn’t about politics. It was about lived experience. And his advocacy worked: funding was secured, schemes launched, and millions of meals began to be delivered during school holidays.
That ripple effect is still felt today. This Guardian piece captures the turning point, when everyday people backed the movement, and change followed.
The Logistics Behind The Meals: The Thing You Don’t Always See
Since the summer holidays of 2023, Drift Couriers has been proud to be the driving force handling the local urgent delivery of food boxes, warm meals, dry ingredients, and even prep equipment for HAF projects providers in areas across the country like London, Swansea, Birmingham, Liverpool, and Middlesbrough.
It’s not always glamorous work. There are early starts, last-minute route changes, the occasional closed gate at a school or kitchen drop point. But every successful drop is a child fed. Every coordinated link in the chain from kitchen to courier to club helps keep these services running smoothly.
And that’s what makes the same day courier service model such a strong fit. Meal deliveries often need to arrive within narrow windows still hot, still safe, and on time. That’s where our experience shines. These aren’t just parcels; they’re part of someone’s day. Someone’s dignity. Someone’s hope.
How Our Deliveries Varied Across The Board
We’ve partnered with a range of providers some large, some hyper-local who run kitchens, prep units, or community hubs. Each one of them relies on punctuality, consistency, and a certain level of problem-solving when unexpected hurdles appear. And believe us, hurdles appear.
In Middlesbrough, for example, we’ve helped support HAF drop-offs for local clubs operating from church halls and school gyms. Their call for providers is ongoing, and you can see their approach on the council site here.
In Swansea, it’s been about nimble routing for our couriers to deliver between community centres and youth schemes in the more spread-out neighbourhoods. Up in Liverpool, we’ve tackled larger delivery volumes from centralised kitchens cooking up hundreds of portions at a time.
Planning our meal deliveries in London is its own drama with ups and downs to consistently plan ahead for, dense traffic, zero room for mistakes. But we’ve learned to navigate its chaos like second nature.
And through it all, we’ve used our own GPS-tracked tech to monitor delivery flow, ensure driver safety, and react quickly when plans change (as they always do).
A Logistics Company That’s Proud to Do More
Yes, we’re a logistics company, and yes, we take pride in speed, accuracy, and efficiency. But when we work on something like the HAF programme, it goes beyond metrics. There’s meaning in the mileage.
We’ve learned a lot from the kitchens we serve. From the community organisers who stay late to hand out meal boxes with a smile. From the parents who wave and thank the driver even if they don’t know our name. From the kids who don’t care what van we drive, only that something good is coming their way.
That’s what makes this work different.
You can also see how broader partnerships like Marcus Rashford’s work with FareShare continue to fuel not just meals, but national conversations around food justice.
Looking Ahead: 2025 and Beyond
As we move into summer 2025, we’re excited and grateful to be continuing our involvement providing courier services in the HAF programme. It’s an honour we don’t take lightly.
We’re currently prepping with partners in multiple regions to ensure our fleet is ready to handle the load. More routes. More community hubs. More children who deserve the best.
We’ve come a long way since our first HAF delivery drops in London when our couriers were delivering parcels containing 300 meals a day to local youth clubs. And we’re just getting started.
In Closing
If there’s one thing this programme has taught us, it’s that logistics isn’t just about moving goods it’s about moving good. And we’re proud to be a small part of a much bigger effort that’s making real difference in homes across the country.
Here’s to another year of showing up, loading up, and helping out.
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