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Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund

Asked by Rachael MaskellLabour (Co-op)Department for EducationTabled Answered 28 May 2025UIN 50141

The question

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many (a) applications and (b) approvals there were under the Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund in each financial year since 2015; and what the realised spend was in each financial year.

Answered by Janet Daby

The data requested can be found in the attached spreadsheet.

The similarity in the figures between applications and approvals is down to the work Mott MacDonald, the department’s delivery partner, does with the applicants. If an application is questionable, rather than being rejected, it is returned for amendments and dialogue with the relevant local authority or regional adoption agency (RAA) takes place to bring the application into criteria. On some occasions, applications are withdrawn by the local authority or RAA.

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