Support for adoptive and special guardianship families

Under section 4 of the Adoption and Children Act 2002, adoptive families have a right to an assessment of their adoption support needs from the responsible local authority. The assessment covers a range of needs, including mental health and the need for therapeutic services.

Similarly, if a child was looked after immediately prior to the making of a special guardianship order, the child, special guardian or parent has the right to an assessment of their support needs (Children Act 1989, section 14F; Special Guardianship Regulations 2005, regulation 11). Further information is available on the Library briefing on kinship carers in England.

Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund

The Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund (ASGSF) provides funding to local authorities to pay for therapeutic services for the families of adopted children and children who were previously looked after and are now looked after under a special guardianship order or a child arrangements order.

Local authorities apply to the ASGSF on behalf of eligible families. This must be done within four months of assessing the family’s support needs.

The ASGSF is administered by Mott Macdonald, a consultancy firm.

Uncertainty over funding for 2025/26

Concerns were raised towards the end of the 2024/25 financial year that funding for the ASGSF was only committed to the end of March 2025 and the government had not confirmed if funding would continue after this date.

In response to an urgent question on 1 April 2025, the Children’s Minister, Janet Daby, confirmed that £50 million would be committed for the ASGSF in 2025/26. This is similar to the total level of funding provided in previous years; the fund was worth £49 million in 2024/25.

The government has said that funding after 2025/26 will be “subject to spending review decisions” and the government will “make a further announcement in due course about the plans for the ASGSF from April 2026.”

Change to individual funding limits

Up to the end of March 2025, funding from the ASGSF was subject to the following fair access limits:

  • £2,500 per child per year for specialist assessment
  • £5,000 per child per year for therapy

Where there was an urgent need for higher cost support, the ASGSF could fund up to 50% of the amount above the fair access limits, with the local authority match-funding the remainder, up to a maximum of £30,000 per child including the fair access limits.

On 14 April 2025, the press reported that the Department for Education had sent a letter to stakeholders setting out changes to the ASGSF from April 2025. The changes were then confirmed in a written ministerial statement on 22 April 2025. The changes included:

  • The £5,000 fair access limit for the cost of therapy provided each year will be reduced to £3,000 – that is, a 40% reduction.
  • The ASGSF will no longer match fund more expensive support packages above the £3,000 limit.
  • There will no longer be a separate allowance of £2,500 to fund specialist assessments over and above any funding for therapy.
  • Provisions for children and families to receive support across financial years will end for the time being, meaning all therapy packages or assessments funded through the ASGSF in 2025/26 will have to have been completed by 31 March 2026.

The written statement explained why the government had made the changes:

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.

This rationale has been repeated in response to parliamentary questions asking about the impact of the changes (for example, PQ67594, 22 July 2025).

Stakeholder concerns

Stakeholders have raised concerns about the changes to the ASGSF. An open letter sent to the Education Secretary (PDF) by a group of children’s charities on 22 July 2025 called for an urgent review of the changes. It also asked for confirmation of funding beyond March 2026.

The letter argued that the changes would end up costing more, by increasing levels of adoption disruption. It also suggested the changes went against a commitment in the government’s November 2024 policy paper on children’s social care reform, Keeping Children Safe, Helping Families Thrive, to invest in and promote the use of the ASGSF (p39).

In an earlier letter, sent on 17 April 2025, the same charities called on the Secretary of State to reconsider the changes, which they said would:

have a direct impact on the futures of thousands of children and young adults, has caused widespread distress and anger among affected families, and appears economically short-sighted.

Impact of changes to the ASGSF

There is only limited data publicly available on the ASGSF and the government does not hold data on how many families are eligible for the ASGSF at any one time. However, some data has been provided in response to parliamentary questions. This includes that in 2024/25:

  • of 19,595 approved allocations to the ASGSF for therapeutic support, 9,013 (46%) were for between £3,000 and £5,000
  • there were 3,069 approved applications for specialist assessments
  • the average amount of ASGSF funding awarded per recipient was £3,090 (PQ47692, 19 May 2025; PQ58202, 18 June 2025).

Equalities impact assessment

The Department for Education’s equalities impact assessment for the changes to the ASGSF, which was made publicly available in July 2025, said increased demand for the ASGSF had led to an £11 million overspend in 2024/25.

The assessment suggested that ending match-funding may have a greater impact on children who have an Education, Health and Care plan and females with a special guardianship order. It noted, for example, that 42% of match-funding applications in 2023/24 were for children with an EHC plan. However, the assessment added that if the changes were not made, there is a risk that some of these children may not be able to access therapy at all. Therefore, it said, “making these changes potentially leads to a neutral impact overall.”

The assessment concluded:

The data suggests that there may be a small negative impact on two protected characteristics; however, the outlined changes have been proposed to ensure that the maximum possible number of children are able to receive funding for therapy. If these changes are not implemented, there is a risk that funding for therapy would be insufficient, therefore detrimentally impacting many children, including those with these protected characteristics.

We know that demand continues to increase and costs continue to rise. Previous funding arrangements have already led to frequent budget overspends. We have therefore made these changes to enable us to support the maximum number of children in a financially sustainable manner.

Westminster Hall debate

On 20 May 2025, there was a Westminster Hall debate on support for children in adoptive and kinship placements. Much of the debate focused on the changes to the ASGSF.

Members raised several concerns about the changes, including:

  • they could discourage people from becoming adopters or kinship carers and increase adoption breakdown
  • they could increase costs elsewhere in the system
  • they will negatively impact the outcomes of the children affected
  • they will have a negative impact on children with SEND and their carers
  • the level of funding now available may not be sufficient to provide adequate therapy
  • there was a lack of consultation on the changes, and they were announced during the Easter recess

Responding to the debate, the Children’s Minister, Janet Daby, said:

  • there had been no cuts in the overall budget for the ASGSF
  • the announcement of the changes to the funding limits was made in recess so that the fund could be opened and therapy could be accessed
  • the £50 million of funding for the ASGSF this year will not be enough to meet expected demand so the government made the changes to “enable us to support the maximum number of children”
  • families will still receive “a good standard of support” through the ASGSF. £3,000 of therapy will fund an average of 19 to 20 hours of therapy.
  • where needed, regional adoption agencies and local authorities can use their own funding to increase the amount of therapy.
  • match funding applications accounted for less than 2% of all applications in 2024/25 so “it is important to put it in that wider context”.

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