Full DfE statement on the ASGSF cuts – 14th April 2025

Full DfE statement on ASGSF cuts:

Dear all

As announced on 1 April, the Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund (ASGSF) will be continuing from April 2025, with a budget of £50m.

We appreciate the importance of ASGSF funding to many children and young people, as part of the wider support which local areas provide to adoptive and kinship families. However, demand for support from the ASGSF continues to grow significantly.

In 2025-26, in order to maximise the number of children who are able to access this fund, we have had to make the difficult decision to set the overall Fair Access Limit (FAL) at £3,000.

We will no longer have a separate FAL for specialist assessments. However, specialist assessments up to the level of £2,500 will be considered for funding, but only within the overall FAL of £3,000. We will no longer be able to offer match funding applications for therapy which costs more than the £3,000 FAL, or for specialist assessments which cost more than £2,500.

We recognise that this is a significant change, but it is being made to ensure that the funding can continue to support as many families as possible. The Adoption and Special Guardianship Fund will still enable those eligible to access a significant package of therapeutic support, tailored to meet their individual needs.

Applications prepared in advance of these changes which exceed the new restrictions may therefore need to be amended before submission. Any applications already submitted will be returned for review.

For this initial period, we regret that the applications portal will not automatically calculate using the new restrictions, so the changes will need to be managed manually until further notice.

We will honour applications already approved, where these have continued from 2024-25 to 2025-26 under transitional funding arrangements. However, please note that those transitional funding arrangements are now closed, and no more approvals can be given.

Finally, we recognise the importance of ongoing clarity and stability in the provision of this important support to vulnerable children. We will be discussing further the best approach to the management of funds in future years. Future funding will of course be subject to Spending Review decisions. As a result, we will, for the time being, only be able to consider applications where the therapy or specialist assessment will be fully completed before the end of March 2026. We will make a further announcement in due course about the plans for the ASGSF from April 2026.

FAQ DOCUMENT AVAILABLE HERE