Booking system for kids' activities to be replaced

The booking system for a children's school holiday programme is to be replaced after the charity running the scheme said it was "frustrating" to use.

Stockton's Holidays Are Fun (HAF) scheme has been praised for improving people's mental health, teaching children new skills and offering free meals during the holidays.

But charity Catalyst, which runs it, said parents found the system time-consuming, hard to use and challenging when trying to book places for multiple children.

Mandie Rowlands, Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council's service lead for school support, said the system was "not fit for purpose" and the process for replacing it had started.

She added that the existing system had been designed on software used to book places at recycling centres, although it was "a bit more sophisticated".

HAF activities are available for children receiving benefits-related free school meals, those living in deprived wards, or whose parents receive universal credit, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

Its classes are funded by the Department for Education (DfE) and Public Health and include sports, cooking, costume and set design, first aid, money management and mental health.

The programme is run by the council and Catalyst, which works with 31 class providers.

Lucy Owens, Catalyst's CEO, said the booking system required "some basic IT skills".

"Sometimes the parents have not got the literacy to follow through on an IT system," she said.

"We cannot book multiple activities at once, it's time-consuming and frustrating."

She added that the system did not provide a list of providers running the classes and its functionality was "limited".

A market engagement process has now begun to find a company able to create a better booking system.

"We need to take exactly what we need - our wish list - to a provider that's able to give us the system that our customers will be able to use," Ms Owens added.

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