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.

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 are some example grant application forms to help new forums draft their first application:

Example A

Example B

Example C

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:

The DfE grant for 2025-26 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 2024-25 grant monitoring has been approved.

The grants team will send a grant monitoring approval letter to let the forum know that they can apply for the second tranche.

We expect second tranche applications to open in early July for forums with approved 2024–25 grant monitoring.

Please note that any unused funds from 2024-2025, no matter how small, will be deducted from the second payment.

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.

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

Forums:

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 only approve applications with an urgent need. If funds are low, we may have to reject or partly approve some applications.

Please discuss your application with your Parent Carer Participation Adviser

We will announce the Priority Grant application deadline later this year.

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.

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

There will be an online session about grants on Wednesday 27 March 2024, at 12:00pm. All forums will be emailed an invitation to the session. If your forum doesn’t receive an invite please contact [email protected].

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