Grants and monitoring

Contact administers, and pays a grant of up to £17,500 available to one parent carer forum in each local authority area of England, funded by the Department for Education (DfE).

The grant is used to strengthen parent carer forums, so that parent carers can participate in the strategic planning and decision-making around services for children and young people aged 0 – 25 with SEND in their area.

In this article

2024-2025 grant applications

The grant application process for 2024-25 is now open.

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 2024.

Applications can be submitted at any point between now and the closing date of Friday 21 June 2024. 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 2023-24 grant will be deducted from the 2024-25 grant total.

The 2024-25 grant application form and Managing Your Grant document can be downloaded below:

2024-25 – Grant application form – which includes revised declarations and conditions of grant, and grant host agreement – we recommend that forums read these carefully prior to submitting their applications.

Glossary of jargon and legal terms used in the declarations and conditions of grant – read alongside the conditions of grant to refer to any unfamiliar terms.

2024-25 – 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 paper work during the year.

2024-25 Grant Application Guidance – read carefully and follow when completing your application.

Here are some example grant applications which may help new forums to draft their first application:

Example A

Example B

Example C

Grant myth busting

Additional claims (2nd tranche) applications:

Your forum’s grant application for 2024/25 is paid in two tranches (payments). The first is paid when your grant application is approved, and the forum is able to apply for the second payment when the 2023/24 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 2023/24 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 2023/24 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 22nd November 2024 (if you miss this deadline you may not be able to apply for the 2nd tranche of your grant, or a Priority Grant).

Priority Grant

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/work-streams during the grant year.

We are accepting regional and forum Priority Grant applications from 1st July 2024.

The Priority Grant process is open to regions whose 2023/24 Priority Grant monitoring has been approved (each region has £3,000 ring-fenced funding to apply for).

Regions can apply for more than £3,000, and approval will depend on whether there is further funding available.

Regions – please be aware that any underspend from the 2023/24 regional Priority Grant should be included in your 2024/25 Priority Grant application.

The Priority Grant will be open to all forums whose 2023/24 grant monitoring has been approved, and who have applied for both tranches of the 2024/25 grant.

We won’t be able to accept priority grant applications over £10,000

The deadline for all Priority Grant applications will be 22nd November 2024.

Forums and regions can apply using the link below:

Priority Grant application form

We encourage early Priority Grant applications – applications will be processed on a first come, first served basis, as the pot is limited and early applicants will have the best chance of a successful application and of meeting their intended outcomes.  The deadline for Priority Grant applications is 22ndNovember 2024 but funds may be used up before then. 

Only Priority Grant applications that demonstrate that there is an urgent need for the funding, will be approved. Applications should be discussed with your Parent Carer Participation Adviser prior to submission. 

2023-2024 grant monitoring

The grant monitoring form for 2023-24 is now available and should be submitted by the closing date of Friday 3rd May 2024.

Please let us know ahead of this date if your forum will need to arrange for an extension.  The parent carer participation team is here to support you.

Forums that received the DfE parent carer participation grant for 2023-24 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 be required to submit their full POEs. Forums that are required to provide proofs of expenditure will be provided the link. If your forum does not receive it, please contact the grants team on [email protected].  If your forum has any difficulty submitting POEs, speak to a member of the grants team and they will assist you.

The online monitoring form can be accessed below:

2023-24 Grant monitoring form

2023-24 Grant monitoring guidance – read this to help you to complete the form.

Changes to grant documentation this year

We have produced a document to explain the changes  that were necessary to both the grant application and grant monitoring form this year which forums might find useful.

Grants Online Learning Session

You can view a recording of our Online Learning Session that explains how to complete the application and monitoring forms and goes through any changes from last year. Existing forums and new forums will both find it useful. You can view the recording of this Online Learning Session at this link or via our parent carer forum online learning YouTube account.

Fraud resources

We strongly recommend that every forum reads our webpage on fraud which has pointers and signposting to useful sources of information on 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 applying for the grant for the first time, or if your forum has a new bank account, Contact will need to conduct due diligence checks and to set the forum up on our payment system.  This may result in a short delay – therefore, we recommend getting your application in as soon as possible so that the grants team can get the checks started, minimising any delay.

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 forums.

Information about second tranche claims, regional and individual priority grants will be uploaded in due course.  We expect that second tranche applications will open in early July and forums whose 2023-24 grant monitoring has been approved will be able to apply.

Managing your 2024-2025 grant

If your forum is successful in their application for the parent carer participation grant, you will find these documents helpful when managing the grant: