Kinship responds to government update on adoption and special guardianship support fund (ASGSF)

Today (14 April 2025), the government has announced several changes to the adoption and special guardianship support fund (ASGSF).

While the total funding pot for 2025-26 remains effectively the same as last year (£50 million), changes to the 2025-26 fund include:

• the fair access limit for therapy has been reduced from £5,000 to £3,000 per child per year
• the separate £2,500 limit per child per year for specialist assessments has been removed
• additional match-funded support for exceptional cases is no longer available

We are disappointed to see reductions for 2025-26 in the level of funding made available to eligible kinship families for therapeutic support.

This announcement will come as a further blow to kinship carers who are already experiencing ongoing disruption to their children’s therapy following the government’s delayed commitment to renewing the ASGSF earlier this month. Kinship families are once again caught in the chaos and today’s news is likely to lead to further stress and uncertainty.

While we recognise the difficult economic situation, and the importance of ensuring the ASGSF can benefit as many kinship families as possible, reducing the level of therapeutic support available through the ASGSF could have significant implications for kinship families and the state.

In our last annual survey, 13% of kinship carers told us they were concerned about their ability to continue caring for their kinship children. Three-quarters of this group highlighted challenges managing social, emotional and behavioural difficulties as the main reason. Having experienced significant trauma, separation and loss, high-quality therapeutic support can make an immeasurable difference to the lives of children in kinship care and those caring for them, helping them to heal and thrive into adulthood.

Frustratingly, this decision comes at a time when the government is choosing to champion kinship care and is encouraging local authorities to review the support available to their own kinship families. The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill contains a new legal duty to publish a kinship local offer, including signposting to therapeutic support, but that very support is now being eroded.

Furthermore, it’s clear that the welcome steps taken by the government to boost awareness of the ASGSF and increase applications from eligible kinship families are not being supported by commensurate funding to provide the level of therapeutic support needed. This confused and ill-considered approach to the sequencing of kinship care reform risks pushing more families to breaking point.

The government must use the forthcoming Spending Review to outline a long-term plan for how kinship families can access the therapeutic and emotional support they need. It makes sense to invest in kinship care, and further delays to improved financial, practical and emotional support for kinship families will only increase the risk of breakdown and more children entering an already overstretched care system.

We have reviewed the new information and updated our advice webpage on the adoption and special guardianship support fund. For more information, questions about eligibility or about applications, please contact your local authority. You can find your local authority and their contact details using our Kinship Compass tool.

For more on what’s happening now and what should happen next for therapeutic support for kinship families, please visit our kinship care policy tracker.