The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award (DofE), with support from the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS), is offering new funding to help Additional Needs and Alternative Provision (ANAP) settings become licensed to deliver the DofE Award.
The funding, which is available between now and 11 December 2025, is available for state-funded specialist schools that support young people with special educational needs and disabilities, Alternative Provision settings, and Pupil Referral Units in England.
The funding will enable eligible settings to receive:
Up to £4,500 (ex-VAT) to purchase equipment that will support DofE activities across the Volunteering, Physical, Skills and Expedition sections.
Funding to cover 75% of the 2025/26 DofE annual licence fee.
Funded Bronze, Silver and Gold DofE participation places, supporting participants to access the Award at no cost.
The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award has been focusing on breaking down barriers to give as many young people as possible the chance to do their DofE.
Aleea-Mae, 14, who did her DofE at Thomasson Memorial School in Bolton, said: “I was born profoundly deaf in both ears. They didn’t find out until I was three and I got two hearing aids when I was four – I’d missed four years of my life without speaking.
“I decided to do the DofE because I wanted to have some fun and I like camping, exploring and doing activities outside. For my Volunteering section, I helped create a British Sign Language version of the DofE welcome film, to help other deaf people find out more about it. The advice I would give to other young people who are deaf is that you can take part in the DofE – there’s nothing stopping you.”
Doing DofE has been shown to have a statistically significant impact on participants, developing their resilience, confidence, initiative, community cohesion and mental and physical wellbeing.
To do their DofE, young people aged 14-24 choose activities in four sections: improving a Physical and Skills activity, Volunteering for a cause of their choice, and completing a demanding Expedition. Along the way they have fun, grow in resilience and self-belief, discover new talents and passions, and learn practical skills to help them in future – while working towards a highly respected Award.
Ruth Marvel OBE, CEO of The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award said: “We are delighted that, together with our partners at DCMS we can offer this funding to support more young people to access the DofE. Between 2022 and 2024, thanks to support from DCMS and the Department for Education we supported 128 Additional Needs and Alternative Provision (ANAP) settings to launch the DofE in England. Of those, 94% agreed that it allowed more young people from marginalised backgrounds to take part and 90% observed positive impacts on the wellbeing of participants. We want to ensure that no young person misses out on the opportunity to do a life-changing DofE Award – and this funding will help us to do that.”
The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award is committed to working with the Government to remove barriers to opportunity for young people with disabilities and additional needs. To find out more and apply for the funding, visit: Dofe.org/access-without-limits-SEND-schools
