Guidance

Child and family ASYE March 2026: year end claims 

Published 26 February 2026

Applies to England

The Skills for Care (SfC) child and family Assessed and Supported Year in Employment (ASYE) contract will conclude on 31 March 2026. The SfC portal will close on 28 February 2026.  

This guidance is for employers supporting ASYE participants who register or complete in March 2026 only. Guidance is available on how to claim funding for ASYE for the 2026 to 2027 year.

Employers with newly qualified social workers (NQSWs) from financial year 2022 to 2023 onwards who are still completing their ASYE, and who have not submitted a completion claim through the SfC portal in financial year 2025 to 2026, or who do not complete through the Department for Education (DfE) system by March 2026, will remain eligible to claim funding when they complete their ASYE in financial year 2026 to 2027.  

Submissions after portal closure  

Once the SfC portal has closed, organisations that wish to register or complete NQSWs for the financial year 2025 to 2026 ASYE programme for 1 to 31 March 2026 only, must do so by using the ’ASYE application spreadsheet’ from Child and family social work ASYE programme: registration and funding and sending it directly to DfE. 

The application spreadsheet should be password protected. The password must be sent in a separate email from the application itself. The email containing the password must include the organisation name and date in the subject of the email.  

All submissions must be sent to CFASYE.payments@education.gov.uk by 23:59 on 23 March 2026. DfE cannot process claims for registrations or completions dated before 1 March 2026.  

Any claims for before March 2026 must be submitted through the SfC portal. Claims for registrations and completions dated prior to March 2026 that are not submitted through the Skills for Care portal will not be accepted or processed by DfE. 

Any submissions received after this date that relate to pre-March 2026 will not be accepted or processed. 

Eligibility 

The child and family ASYE eligibility will remain the same as previous years. The ASYE programme is available across all sectors:  

• statutory 
• private 
• voluntary 
• independent 

Any NQSW can complete the child and family ASYE programme. NQSWs should undertake the ASYE programme within 4 years of qualifying. NQSWs may still undertake the ASYE programme if they do not meet these criteria, but no funding will be provided by DfE.  

All NQSWs participating in the programme must be registered with Social Work England. 

Funding arrangements  

Where grant eligibility criteria are met, DfE will issue a grant:

• offer letter, outlining the conditions of the grant
• agreement, including all relevant annexes associated with the grant

Following the return of these documents (signed by an authorised senior officer) funding will be paid directly to employers. The funding will be consistent with previous years.

£2000 will be paid in total in 2 instalments:

• £1000 paid at registration 
• £1000 paid at completion

Allocation  

There will be a limit of funded places for March. Funding will be allocated on a first-come, first-served basis. If a claim is submitted after all places have been allocated, it will not be successful, and funding will not be awarded.   

Registration 

At registration, employers will be required to complete the application spreadsheet and provide the: 

• local authority code 
• organisation name 
• organisation area  
• employer type 
• newly qualified social worker name 
• Social Work England number of participant  
• social worker qualification date  
• ASYE start date  
• projected ASYE completion date  

Completion 

For completion claims, employers must provide evidence demonstrating how they have met the conditions set out in the grant letter.  

For completion submissions, the application spreadsheet must include: 

• actual completion date  
• assessment outcome 

The email must have attached a signed ‘ASYE completion declaration and funding return’ which is available on Child and family social work ASYE programme: registration and funding.

Submission of documents for grant payments should be sent to CFASYE.payments@education.gov.uk.   

Grant offer letter 

Before any payment can be made, employers must sign and return the grant offer letter, along with: 

• annex A (acceptance of grant offer and effective date)  
• annex B (bank account details) included within the grant offer letter  
• annex C (grant claims in arrears for March 2026) forms must be supported by the number of NQSWs for both new registrations and completions – required for registrations and completions (the annex C must confirm the actual number of completions and registrations following the grant application)
• annex K (data protection schedule) forms require details of which the parties are required to keep in accordance with the Data Protection Legislation – for the duration of the grant 

DfE will distribute the grant offer letter to the employer after assurance checks that the grant claim meets the eligibility criteria. Payments cannot be processed without receipt of these documents. The grant offer letter, grant agreement and annex C (grant claim in arrears for March 2026) must be submitted to DfE by 30 April 2026 to receive payment. An authorised senior officer must complete all annexes and sign the grant offer letter. 

Employers who have not previously claimed grant funding from DfE will also be required to complete a vendor registration form (Provide information about your banking and payments to DfE). ASYE co-ordinators should check with their organisation’s internal finance colleagues if the organisation has received a DfE grant within the last 2 years.  

All relevant annexes associated with the grant will be embedded within the grant offer letter. Employers must review the full grant offer letter and annexes and ensure it is signed by an authorised senior officer within their organisation.

Grant application process

1. Employer sends the application spreadsheet with the completion declaration to CFASYE.payments@education.gov.uk.

2. DfE assures claims meet eligibility criteria.  

3. DfE distribute grant offer letter and certificate to employer. 

4. Employer returns signed grant offer letter and annexes to CFASYE.payments@education.gov.uk.

5. DfE distributes grant payments. 

Certificates 

Employers will be required to provide certificates to NQSWs on completion of the child and family ASYE programme. The ASYE completion certificate template will be sent by DfE to employers with the confirmation of grant funding and the grant offer letter. 

Withdrawal and clawback process  

The clawback process applies when:  

• an NQSW withdraws within the first 4 weeks of starting the programme  
• a claim is non-compliant with grant criteria (identified by DfE or through DfE assurance sampling).   

In the event of clawback:

• overpayments will be deducted from future invoices, or the grant recipient must repay directly within 28 days if no future invoices remain
• grant recipients must record the exact withdrawal date and add this to the ASYE application spreadsheet
• DfE will issue a formal clawback notice setting out the reason, amount, method, and repayment deadline

Assurance sampling  

DfE will sample check 10% of participating employers’ claims. The selection of employers will be random. 

This will include a virtual visit where employers meet with DfE to:

• talk through their child and family ASYE programme
• share assessment moderation reports

Contact us   

Grant applications and submission of documents for grant payments should be sent to CFASYE.payments@education.gov.uk.   

If you have any queries, email CFASYE.queries@education.gov.uk.