History of the fund

The Parenting Fund was set up in 2004 by the government's Department for Education and Skills (DfES) to:

• Do more for parents who have been less well served in the past. For example: Black and Ethnic Minority parents, parents with mental health problems, families living with conflict, parents with disabilities or who have children with a disability
• Strengthen the network of services in the voluntary sector that support parents in bringing up their children
• Highlight and promote good practices so that they can be used by all family and parent support services.

The Parenting Fund received £25 million from the Government's 2002 spending. From the above amount £8.6 million was committed to infrastructure work and the strengthening of helpline services to parents. The remaining £16.4 million was distributed through an open application process to 134 parent support projects in the voluntary and community sector in England. The Family and Parenting Institute (FPI) managed the £16.4 million grant fund and was chosen as fundholder by the DfES following competitive tendering. Projects were funded from November 2004 to October 2006.

For the second round of the DfES's Parenting Fund the DfES' grant was just over £14 million. The application period ran from December 2005 to March 2006. Under Round 2, the Parenting Fund awarded grants to 131 projects which ran from July 2006 to July 2008. Recipients were charities and "not for profit" organisations undertaking parenting support work where parents, families and children face significant challenges.
There were two major differences from Round 1:

1. The criteria were widened and a whole family approach was proposed. This time there was a greater emphasis on working with teenagers, an incorporation of aspects of the "Respect" agenda and recognition of the value of supporting couple relationships as a way of strengthening parenting. Promoting social inclusion and improving access to services and support for less well-served communities remained a cornerstone of the fund.
2. The grant focused on twenty-three localities. This meant that the fund no longer covered national or regional projects. But funded projects were expected to deliver learning and outcomes that could be picked up nationally. Also, organisations would be able to apply to work in a number of areas, as was the case with Round 1. The areas selected consisted of the eighteen from Round 1 and five others these are the same areas that are being funded in the current 3rd round of funding.

As in Round 1 the Family And Parenting Institute, in partnership with PricewaterhouseCoopers, is acting as the fundholder.