Special Education Needs Inclusion and Disability Access Funding

Special Educational Needs Inclusion Funding

Special Educational Needs (SEN) Inclusion Funding is for children aged 2, 3 and 4 years old accessing the free entitlements.

The fund is to support providers to better meet the needs of individual children with emerging SEN.

You can re-apply for SEN inclusion funding once per term, until the child leaves your setting or starts school reception. You need to provide evidence of support given and identify whether this has or has not helped the child make progress.

How to apply

Fill in the online application form. You will need to upload a copy of the child's additional needs support plan to apply.

Apply for SEN Inclusion Funding

Allow 3 working days for funds to appear in your account.

The dates below may be subject to change due to software updates. If this happens you will be notified through the provider portal.

Summer term 2024

Autumn term 2024

Disability Access Funding

From April 2017 the government introduced the Disability Access Fund (DAF), to support access to free entitlements for children with disabilities or Special Educational Needs (SEN).

The purpose of the fund is to support early years providers to make reasonable adjustments and build the capacity of their setting to support children with disabilities. The funding cannot be used towards childcare fees.

Information provided by the Department for Education (DfE) about the Disability Access Fund can be found in the early years entitlements operational guide.

Eligibility

DAF will be extended to all children accessing the free entitlements from April 2024 if they meet the following criteria:

• the child is in receipt of Disability Living Allowance
• the child receives the 15 hour entitlement

Children become eligible for free early education at different points in the year depending on their birthdate. 

Four year olds in primary school reception classes are not eligible for DAF funding.

Entitlement

The settings of children eligible for the DAF will be entitled to receive a one-off payment of £910 per year. The DAF is not based on an hourly rate and is an extra entitlement.

Children do not have to take up the full 570 hours of early education that they are entitled to in order to receive the DAF.

If a child eligible for DAF is splitting their free entitlement funding across two or more providers, only one provider will be able to claim the DAF. Parents are asked to nominate the main provider on their parent declaration form.

If a child receiving DAF moves from one setting to another, the new setting is not eligible to receive DAF funding for this child until the anniversary of the first payment has passed. DAF funding received by the original setting will not be recouped.

In cases where a child who lives in one local authority attends a setting in another local authority, the local authority where the setting is based is responsible for funding the DAF for the child and for eligibility checking.

Identifying eligible children

Early years providers are responsible for identifying eligible children. We encourage you to speak to parents to find out who is eligible for the DAF.

Parents will need to provide the following to their nominated provider:

• parent declaration form
• copy of the child’s entitlement to disability living allowance

Provider application process

To submit a DAF application, log into the portal. You will need to provide a copy of the Parent Declaration and DLA award letter to apply.

Visit the portal