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

I fully appreciate the importance of ASGSF funding to many children and young people and have heard many reports of how much it means to families. Therefore, I recognise that this funding remains significant as part of the wider support which local areas should provide to adoptive and kinship families.

However, we are in a challenging fiscal climate and are having to make tough but fair decisions across the public sector to address the £22 billion black hole that the government inherited and to ensure this fund is financially sustainable

Demand for support from the ASGSF continues to grow significantly. In 2025-26, in order to maximise the number of children who can access this fund, we have had to make the difficult decision to set the maximum amount of funding for an individual child each year, known as the Fair Access Limit, at £3,000.

Specialist assessments up to the level of £2,500 will continue to be considered for funding, though only within the overall Fair Access Limit of £3,000. Where it is assessed as being needed, local authorities and Regional Adoption Agencies can fund therapy above the £3,000 Fair Access Limit, out of their mainstream children’s services budget.

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.

I appreciate that these changes will require some applications which are currently in draft, or which have been submitted, to be reviewed. We have provided more detailed guidance to local authorities and regional adoption agencies about the practical implications of the changes, and the Department for Education’s delivery partner, Mott MacDonald, is also able to answer questions.

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.