Each financial year, the Department for Education (DfE) makes one £17,500 grant available to a parent carer forum in each local authority area. The purpose of the grant is to strengthen parent carer forums so that parent carers can participate in strategic planning and decision-making around services for children and young people aged 0 – 25 with SEND in their area.
The parent carer forum receiving the grant is the DfE-funded forum. It is a key strategic partner co-producing with local partners in education, health, and social care to improve services for children and young people with SEND.
The DfE-funded forum has the support of their local authority to be their co-production partner. Both the forum and local authority sign a memorandum of understanding (MOU). This sets out the ways in which they will work together. The forum needs to have this support from the local authority to receive the grant.
There are lots of things that forums need to be aware of when applying for grant, including its purpose, and what forums can and can’t use it for. You can find detailed information on this in Managing your grant and in the grant application guidance. Remember that the grant needs to fund a pan-disability parent carer forum that seeks the views and experiences of all families. This includes those from underrepresented groups.
Contact administers and pays the annual grant to forums who apply for funding to support their development, sustainability, parent carers’ expenses and remuneration, any staffing, and running costs for the year.
Video: Using your DfE grant
Priority Grant
Some forums have an underspend for the DFE participation grant. This means that there is usually some unclaimed grant money that other forums can claim for urgent work within that grant year. This is a Priority Grant.
Money for Priority Grants is not guaranteed. The Priority Grant pot is limited. Forums usually get approval on a first-come, first-served basis, based on urgent need. Some funding is ringfenced to support new or at-risk forums. The amount available is different each year. To apply for a Priority Grant, forums must have applied for the full grant and have had their previous year’s grant monitoring approved. Applications must still meet the conditions of the grant.
TOP TIP
If you are thinking about applying for a priority grant it’s good to talk it through with your adviser first.
Grant timetable
The grant year runs from 1st April to 31st March – this never changes. Forums must complete grant spend within the financial year, i.e. before 31st March.
Contact pays the annual grant in two instalments or tranches. The second tranche is released once the forum’s grant monitoring from the previous year has been approved. This is to account for any underspend or deductions.
The grant deadlines vary slightly each year, but the approximate grant calendar is:
- March/April – the grant application process opens. Applications can only be paid from 1st April, but can be submitted sooner.
- End April/early May – forums must submit grant monitoring.
- Early/mid-June – grant application deadline.
- Early July – second tranche applications open to those whose monitoring has been fully approved.
- Early July – Priority Grant process opens for those who have applied for the full grant and whose grant monitoring has been approved.
- Mid-November – second tranche and Priority Grant deadline.
Each year, Contact collects feedback from forums on the grants process. We try to take these on board to make necessary improvements. When we make changes, we explain these to forums, including the reasons why we made them.
When notified that the grant process is open, forums should read all the information they receive very carefully. Forums can contact the grants team on [email protected] if there is anything that they don’t understand. They will be happy to assist.
