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:

The 2nd tranche application form will be available later in the year.

The DfE grant for 2024-25 will be paid in two tranches (payments).  The first half of the grant is paid when the grant is approved.  Parent carer forums can apply for the second half of the grant once their 2023-24 grant monitoring has been approved. The grants team will send a grant monitoring approval letter to let the forum know that they can apply.

All underspend from 2023-24 will be deducted from the second tranche payment, no matter how small.

Priority Grant

When forums don’t access the full amount of the grant allocated to them, either due to them applying for less money or having an underspend from the previous year, this provides a pot of money for other forums to access for urgent projects/workstreams during the grant year.

We will be accepting regional and forum applications later in the year and we will notify forums when this process is open.

The Priority Grant process will be open to regions whose 2023-24 Priority Grant monitoring has been approved (there is £3,000 ringfenced funding that each region can apply for).  Regions can apply for more than £3,000 and approval will depend on whether there is funding available.  Regions also need to be aware that any underspend from the 2023-24 regional Priority Grant should be incorporated into this year’s Priority Grant application.

The Priority Grant will be open to all forums who have had their grant monitoring for 2023-24 approved, and who have applied for the first and second tranches of the 2024-25 grant.  We cannot approve applications that exceed £10,000 from individual forums or regions.

The Priority Grant will be on a first come, first served basis, as the pot is finite, and to enable forums to have the best chance of meeting their outcomes rather than waiting until November when the final underspend figure for the year is confirmed.  The deadline for all Priority Grant applications will be announced later in the year.

Please be aware that only 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 pcfgrants@contact.org.uk.  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 session

The annual online grants session will take place on Wednesday 27th March 2024 between 12:00 and 13:00 via Zoom.  Register in advance for this meeting at the following link. https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZEpdequrTIoHtynlO2lL-N_WiFhhYHxvt3C  

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting. 

Please note if you are unable to attend on the day, a recording of the session along with relevant documents will be available on this page.

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 – pcfgrants@contact.org.uk

Queries and further information

If you have any queries about the grants process, please contact your parent carer participation adviser or email pcfgrants@contact.org.uk. 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: