If your child is at nursery or pre-school and struggling, you may have been told there’s “no funding” for extra help. That isn’t how early years SEND support works, and waiting for money to appear can cost your child a year of support they’re entitled to now.
Three routes fund nursery support in England. Ordinary SEN (Special Educational Needs) support is free and starts at once. The SEN Inclusion Fund (SENIF) is set locally. The Disability Access Fund (DAF) is at least £975 a year for a child on Disability Living Allowance. Don’t wait for Reception to start the Education, Health and Care Plan route.
This is England-only guidance for parents and carers. SEND duties run from birth to age 25 under Part 3 of the Children and Families Act 2014, and a child under compulsory school age counts as having Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) if they’re likely to have a learning difficulty or disability at school age, under section 20(3) of that Act. Early years providers carry these duties too.
What early years SEND funding can your child get?
There are four things to know about, and they work alongside each other, not instead of each other. Ordinary SEN support, the SEN Inclusion Fund, the Disability Access Fund, and an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) all sit on a ladder, from everyday help to high-cost specialist provision.
The table below sets out who each route is for, who pays, and what triggers it. Most children with SEND in the early years are supported through ordinary SEN support and the SEN Inclusion Fund. The Disability Access Fund is a flat extra for any child on Disability Living Allowance. An EHCP is for the smaller group whose needs are too high for those routes alone.
You don’t have to choose between these. A child can get ordinary SEN support, attract the Disability Access Fund because they’re on Disability Living Allowance, and also have an EHCP. Each one does a different job. The point of this guide is to make sure none of them are quietly skipped because someone told you there was “no money.”
Why does support have to start before any funding comes through?
Support is needs-led, not funding-led, so a setting can’t lawfully refuse or delay help while it waits for money. This is the single most useful thing to know, and it’s the line most often got wrong at the nursery door.
A nursery, pre-school or childminder must use what they call the graduated approach: assess, plan, do, review. They identify the need, put support in place, and review it. The SEND Code of Practice (Chapter 5 covers early years) is statutory guidance, which means providers must follow it. It expects early identification and support from the provider’s own resources first, before any extra funding is even discussed.
There’s a second legal layer. Early years settings are service providers under the Equality Act 2010. That means they must make reasonable adjustments for a disabled child and must not discriminate. “We can’t help until the funding is approved” isn’t a lawful position when an adjustment is reasonable and the need is there now.
The everyday duty to identify and support SEND, and to appoint a Special Educational Needs Coordinator (SENCO) in group settings, also sits in the Early Years Foundation Stage statutory framework. So three separate things, the Code, the Equality Act and the Early Years Foundation Stage, all say the same thing: start now.
If a setting says it can’t support your child “until funding comes through,” ask in writing what they are doing under the graduated approach right now, and which reasonable adjustments they’ve considered. Both are duties that don’t wait for money.
What is the Disability Access Fund and who gets it?
The Disability Access Fund (DAF) is at least £975 a year, paid to your child’s nursery or pre-school for any child who gets Disability Living Allowance and takes up funded early education. It’s set out in the early years entitlements operational guide for 2026 to 2027. Rates checked June 2026.
Two conditions open it up, and that’s all. Your child receives Disability Living Allowance (any rate, any component), and they take up some of their funded early education hours at the setting. It isn’t means-tested beyond the Disability Living Allowance award, and your child doesn’t have to use the full entitlement. Taking up any period of funded hours is enough.
A few details matter when you ask about it. The Disability Access Fund is an annual lump sum, not pro-rated by hours, and the council guidance says it must be passed on to the provider in full and not offset against other funding. If your child splits their hours across two settings, you nominate one main setting to receive it. It now applies across all the funded entitlement streams, including the 9-months-to-2-years entitlement for working parents, so it isn’t only for 3 and 4-year-olds.
The gateway is Disability Living Allowance, so if you haven’t claimed it yet, that’s the first move. Our guide to applying for DLA walks through it. Any rate counts for the Disability Access Fund, and Disability Living Allowance for children currently ranges from £30.30 to £194.60 a week (gov.uk DLA rates, checked June 2026), so even a lower award opens the door.
Tell the nursery you think your child is eligible for the Disability Access Fund and share a copy of your Disability Living Allowance award letter. The council checks eligibility, and it usually wants to see that letter, so the provider can’t claim it without your help.
What is the SEN Inclusion Fund and how do you ask for it?
The SEN Inclusion Fund (SENIF) is money every council in England must hold to support under-school-age children with low-level or emerging Special Educational Needs, and your provider applies to the council for it on your child’s behalf. There’s no national rate. Each council sets the amount, the criteria and the process locally.
The 2026 to 2027 operational guide is explicit that all local authorities are required to have a SEN Inclusion Fund “for all children below compulsory school age who have special educational needs, regardless of the number of hours taken.” So the fund’s existence isn’t optional, even though its value varies from one area to the next.
Because it’s run locally, the way to find it is your council’s Local Offer, the website where every local authority publishes its SEND services. Search for your council name and “SEN Inclusion Fund” or “Local Offer.” It usually sets out who’s eligible, how much is available, and how a setting applies.
A few practical points are worth knowing. The fund is meant to be paid mostly to providers as top-up grants, decided case by case, so the application normally comes from your nursery rather than from you. It’s aimed at low-level and emerging needs, the step below an EHCP. And it doesn’t follow a child into Reception, so it’s specifically early years support.
- Find your council’s Local Offer - search the council name plus “SEN Inclusion Fund”
- Ask the SENCO to apply - the setting usually makes the application, not you
- Gather what you’ve noticed - specific examples of what your child finds hard, day to day
- Keep your own copy - of any plan, assessment or review the setting has done
One thing to keep an eye on, but not to worry about for now: the rules around the SEN Inclusion Fund are under review, and the government has signalled new early years inclusion money as part of its wider SEND reforms. Those reform funds are separate from the established SEN Inclusion Fund and Disability Access Fund, and they’re a “what’s coming” point, not something you can claim today. Treat the per-child routes above as the ones that count right now.
When does your child need an EHCP instead?
Your child needs an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) when their needs are likely to be too high for ordinary SEN support and the SEN Inclusion Fund to meet. An EHCP is the route that brings in high needs funding and legally enforceable provision. There’s no minimum age, and no need to wait for school.
An EHCP is a legal document that sets out a child’s needs and the support the council must provide. The other early years routes are discretionary or local. An EHCP is different: once it names provision, the council has to deliver it. For a child with significant or complex needs, that legal weight is the reason to pursue one.
You can ask the council to carry out an EHC (Education, Health and Care) needs assessment at any time, including in the early years, under section 36 of the Children and Families Act 2014. The legal test is low. The council must decide whether to assess within 6 weeks, a timescale set out in the SEND Code of Practice. There’s no age floor, so “they’re too young” isn’t a lawful reason to refuse.
It helps to know what an EHCP actually does before you decide. Our explainer on what an EHCP is and whether your child needs one covers the threshold, and our step-by-step guide to requesting an assessment covers exactly how to ask.
The definition of special educational provision for a child aged 2 or over, in section 21 of the same Act, is provision that’s additional to or different from what’s generally made for others the same age. That definition deliberately reaches into the early years, which is the legal answer to anyone who suggests SEND support only begins at school.
Should you wait until Reception to start the EHCP route?
No. Starting the EHCP route in good time before Reception is one of the most useful things you can do. The process is slow, and a plan finalised before school can shape which school your child gets and the support they start with.
The timeline is the reason. From a needs-assessment request, a final EHCP can take around 20 weeks, and that’s when the council keeps to deadlines. If you want a plan in place for the September your child starts Reception, working backwards means starting the autumn or spring before, not the summer they turn four.
There’s a practical edge too. A finalised EHCP, with a school named in it, gives your child a legal right to that placement. Leaving it until Reception has already started means scrambling for support while your child is already struggling in a new environment. Earlier is calmer, and it’s stronger.
An EHCP started in the early years doesn’t lock your child in. It’s reviewed at least once a year, and it follows them into school, so the work you do now isn’t wasted if needs change later.
None of this means every child needs an EHCP. Plenty of children are well supported through ordinary SEN support, the SEN Inclusion Fund and the Disability Access Fund. But if your child’s needs are clearly high, the time to begin is now, not next September.
What can you do if the nursery refuses to help?
If a setting won’t act, start by putting your concern in writing and asking what it’s doing under the graduated approach, because a written record turns a vague “no funding” into a specific duty the setting has to answer. Calm, specific and on paper beats a frustrated conversation at pickup.
Begin with the setting’s Special Educational Needs Coordinator. Group settings must have a SENCO, and most areas also have an Area SENCO, a council early years specialist who supports providers with SEND. Ask the setting to involve the Area SENCO if progress stalls. That’s often what gets things moving.
If the setting still won’t engage, the council’s early years SEND team and your Local Offer are the next step. You can also request an EHC needs assessment directly, without the setting’s agreement. And remember the Equality Act 2010 sits underneath all of this: a refusal to make a reasonable adjustment for a disabled child may be unlawful discrimination, not just a funding decision.
You’re not imagining the difficulty here. Only 29% of responding councils in England reported having enough childcare for at least three-quarters of children with SEND in their area, according to the Coram Childcare Survey 2025. The system is genuinely hard to work through, so being clear, written and persistent isn’t being difficult. It’s how you get heard.
Keep dated copies of every email, plan and review. If you later need to challenge a decision or request an EHC assessment, a clear paper trail of what you raised and when is the strongest evidence you’ll have.
Getting help
You don’t have to work this out alone. Several organisations offer free, expert advice on early years SEND support and funding.
Contact runs a free helpline (0808 808 3555) for families with disabled children and has clear guidance on early years support, Disability Living Allowance and Education, Health and Care Plans.
IPSEA (the Independent Provider of Special Education Advice) offers free legal advice on SEND law (0300 222 5899), including EHC needs assessment requests, and has model letters you can adapt.
Coram Child Law Advice provides free information on education law and your rights (0300 330 5485), including early years and EHCPs.
Your local SENDIASS (Special Educational Needs and Disabilities Information, Advice and Support Service) is in every council area and offers free, impartial support. Find yours through your council’s Local Offer.
How the assistant can help
The free SEND Parents Help assistant knows how early years SEND funding works in England. You can describe what your child is struggling with at nursery and ask it to help you work out which route fits, whether the Disability Access Fund applies, and how to ask your setting and council for the right support.
It can also help you draft a clear, written request to the nursery or an EHC needs assessment request, using the language the SEND Code of Practice recognises.
Sources and further reading
Legislation
- Children and Families Act 2014, Part 3 (SEND duties from birth to 25)
- Children and Families Act 2014, section 20 (when a child has SEND, including the prospective test for under-school-age children)
- Children and Families Act 2014, section 21 (definition of special educational provision)
- Children and Families Act 2014, section 36 (the EHC needs assessment test)
- Equality Act 2010 (reasonable adjustments and non-discrimination)
Official guidance
- SEND Code of Practice: 0 to 25 years (statutory guidance, Chapter 5 covers early years)
- Early Years Foundation Stage statutory framework (the duty to identify and support SEND)
- Early years entitlements operational guide 2026 to 2027 (the Disability Access Fund and SEN Inclusion Fund rules)
- DLA for children rates (the gateway benefit for the Disability Access Fund)
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