Grants and monitoring Contact gives a grant of up to £17,500 to one parent carer forum in each local authority area in England. This money comes from the Department for Education (DfE). The grant enables parent carer forums to engage with local parents and carers to help improve services for children and young people (0–25) with SEND. The grant strengthens parent carer forums, helping parents shape services for children and young people (0–25) with SEND. In this article Changes to grant documentation this year We made a document explaining this year’s grant application and monitoring form changes. Forums may find it useful to look at this before completing the form. 2025-2026 grant applications The grant application process for 2025-26 is now open. You can apply for your Grant applications for 2025-26 here You may notice the grant forms have been released earlier again this year, this means we can accept and process applications now. However, due to rules financial year rules relating to the grant we won’t be able to pay any approved grants until after 31 March 2025. Applications can be submitted at any point between now and the closing date of Tuesday 1st July 2025. If your forum will struggle to meet this deadline, let us know and we can negotiate a revised deadline with you. We encourage forums to submit applications at the earliest opportunity to minimise any gap in funding. Note: all underspend from any 2024-25 grant will be deducted from the 2025-26 grant total. You can apply anytime from now until 1st July 2025. If you need more time, let us know, and we can discuss a new deadline. You can access the 2025–26 grant application form, guidance document, and Managing Your Grant document below: Please read our 2025/26 Grant Application Guidance when completing your application. Grant application form 2025-26 Glossary of jargon and legal terms in the grant conditions – use it to understand any unfamiliar terms. 2025-26 – Managing Your Grant – all forums will receive a copy by email when their application is approved. We suggest that forums refer to it to help with record keeping and paperwork during the year. Here is an example grant application form to help new forums draft their first application: Example Grant myth busting Submit your application as soon as possible. You don’t need to complete your 2024–25 monitoring before applying for the first half of the 2025–26 grant, unless we tell you otherwise. So, don’t wait – apply early to ensure there’s no gap in funding. Local authorities don’t need to endorse grant applications. Instead, they agree to recognise the DfE-funded forum and work with them as a strategic partner. The Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) sets out this relationship. The focus is on the partnership, not the endorsement. Additional claims (2nd tranche) applications: Your forum’s grant application for 2025/26 is paid in two tranches (payments). The first is paid when your grant application is approved. The forum can apply for the second payment when the 2024/25 grant monitoring has been approved. Your forum will receive a grant monitoring approval letter from the grants team to let you know this has been approved. The 2nd tranche application form is below. Please be aware that the form must include the Conditions of Grant signatory’s email address which was provided on your forum’s 2024/25 grant application form. If this is not included, payment will be delayed. The amount your forum can apply for on the 2nd tranche application is minus the confirmed underspend from the 2024/25 grant monitoring. For example, if the forum had a £1,000 underspend and applied for the full £17,500, the forum will only be able to apply for £7,750 for the 2nd tranche (£8,750 – £1,000). Please be aware that all underspends will be deducted from your 2nd tranche payment, no matter how big or small. You can apply for the 2nd tranche payment here: 2nd Tranche form The deadline for 2nd tranche applications is 21st November 2025 (if you miss this deadline you may not be able to apply for the 2nd tranche of your grant, or a Priority Grant). Please contact your Parent Carer Participation Adviser or the grants team ([email protected]) if you think you will need support. Priority Grant If forums don’t use their full grant allocation, the leftover funds create a ‘priority grant’ pot. Other forums can apply for this extra funding during the grant year for urgent projects or workstreams. The amount of priority grant money varies each year, depending on how much forums request or underspend from the previous year’s grant. Conference Most forums include the cost of attending the national conference in their budget. However, we understand this is usually an estimate as the full details aren’t known at the time of planning. If your forum doesn’t have enough funding to support at least two parent carers to attend the NNNPCF and Contact National Participation Conference you can apply for additional support through the priority grant. Please read the event FAQs , which will be available shortly, for more information about the Conference. Forums: We will be accepting regional and forum priority grant applications from the 4th July 2025 – the deadline for applying is the 21st November 2025 Forums can apply for the Priority Grant if they complete 2024–25 grant monitoring and apply for both 2025–26 grant tranches. We cannot approve applications that exceed £10,000 from individual forums or regions. 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. We can only approve applications with an urgent need. If funds are low, we may have to reject or partly approve some applications. Definition of Urgent Need: An urgent need refers to situations that, without immediate support, could significantly impact a forum’s ability to continue operating or respond effectively to a critical issue. This includes, but is not limited to: The forum is at immediate risk of folding due to financial, operational, or structural challenges. The forum is newly established and requires essential infrastructure or capacity-building support to begin meaningful engagement with families. The forum needs specialist training or intervention to manage a high-risk issue, such as safeguarding, governance failure, or crisis-level conflict. The forum must reach and engage parents and carers from communities who are underrepresented or underserved – including those who experience structural barriers due to race, disability, language, socio-economic status, or immigration status. Forums should clearly demonstrate: Why the situation is urgent and time-sensitive How the proposed activity will address the specific risk or gap The outcomes expected, particularly for families less likely to engage through traditional methods Please discuss your application with your Parent Carer Participation Adviser You can apply for the priority grant here: Priority Grant application form Regions: Regions can apply for the Priority Grant once their 2024–25 Priority Grant monitoring has been approved. Each region has £3,000 set aside but can request more if funds allow. Regions must include any unused 2024–25 Priority Grant funds in this year’s application. When forums don’t access the full amount of the grant allocated to them, either because they applied for less money, or because they had underspend from the previous year, this results in a pot of money for other forums to access for important or urgent projects/workstreams during the grant year. We are accepting regional and forum Priority Grant applications from 4th July 2025. The Regional Priority grant and the NNPCF: Parent Carer Forums in each region continue to work together with their NNPCF Regional Director, supported by Contact, to strengthen their collective voice. A regional grant can be applied for, to: Identify common issues and emerging trends to influence national policy and responses through the NNPCF. Facilitate shared learning and peer support between forums. Work together to develop regional projects, training and/or enhance skills and impact. Strengthen how forums work together as a region with the NNPCF When applying for a Regional Priority Grant, you will be asked to confirm that the application has been informed by the parent carer forums in the region. Your local NNPCF director will be informed that you have applied for a priority grant. They will not be emailed a copy of your application, they will just be informed that you have applied. Eligibility The Priority Grant process is open to regions whose 2024/25 Priority Grant monitoring has been approved (each region has £3,000 ringfenced funding to apply for). Regions can apply for more than £3,000, and approval will depend on whether there is further funding available. Please be aware that any underspend from the 2024/25 regional Priority Grant should be included in your 2025/26 Priority Grant application. You can apply for the priority grant here: Priority Grant application form 2024-2025 grant monitoring The grant monitoring form for 2024-25 is now available and should be submitted by the closing date of Friday 2nd May 2025. The 2024-2025 grant monitoring form is due by 2nd May 2025. Let us know if you need an extension. The parent carer participation team is here to support you. Forums that received the DfE parent carer participation grant for 2024-25 should submit a grant monitoring form and, if requested, all associated proofs of expenditure (POEs). Any requested POEs can be submitted via a secure link provided by the grants team. All new forums going through the grant monitoring process for the first time will need to submit full proof of how they’ve spent their grant. Other forums may be asked to submit selected proofs. If you need help submitting proof of expenditure, reach out to the grants team. The online monitoring form can be accessed below: 2024-25 Grant monitoring form 2024-25 Grant monitoring guidance – read this to help you to complete the form Changes to grant documentation this year We made a document explaining this year’s grant application and monitoring form changes. Forums may find it useful to look at this before completing the form. Online Learning – Grants session ‘Grants online learning session.’ The grants team guide you through the grant application and monitoring process providing helpful hints on how best to complete your application and monitoring forms and outlining any changes that have been made to the process this year. View the recording of the session here. Fraud resources We strongly recommend that every forum reads our Fraud Guidance webpage, which includes tips and links to useful fraud guidance. Use the tips to protect your forum from the possibility of fraud if you are not already doing so. Code of Conduct All forums in receipt of the grant will need to adhere to the HM Government Code of Conduct for Grant Recipients. We recommend that all steering group/committee members read this in full. Important information for forums with new or different bank accounts If your forum is new or has a new bank account, Contact will need to do checks. This may cause delays, so it’s best to apply as early as possible. For further information, please contact the grants team – [email protected]. Queries and further information If you have any queries about the grants process, please contact your parent carer participation adviser or email [email protected]. We are here to support all DfE funded forums. Managing your 2025-2026 If your forum gets the parent carer participation grant, these documents will help you manage it: Managing Your Parent Carer Participation Grant – All forums get a copy of this practical guide when their grant application is approved. We recommend using it throughout the year for good practice tips. Proofs of expenditure guidance 2024-25 2025-26 Excel spreadsheet to record grant spend