SEND Inclusion Funding and DAF Funding

DAF funding and SENIF funding (Special Educational Needs Inclusion Funding)

Most children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) will have their needs met through universal provision and services inclusive offer.

A small number of children will have needs that are additional to and different from their peers within the early years setting.

Early years entitlements: local authority funding of providers which allows local authorities to provide extra money to early years settings and school nurseries through two separate funds:

1. The Disability Access Fund (DAF)

This should be used to support providers to make reasonable adjustments in their settings and helps to build capacity. Settings will be eligible for DAF if a child receives free early education and is in receipt of Disability Living Allowance. 

Four-year-olds in reception classes are not eligible.

The setting is entitled to receive a yearly one-off payment, currently £938 per year. Providers can use this funding for the individual child or for the benefit of all children attending the setting and it will help schools and settings meet their duties under the Equality Act 2010. 

Early years providers are encouraged to speak to parents to find out which children are in receipt of Disability Living Allowance.

Parents of children in receipt of Disability Living Allowance are required to provide evidence (a copy of which should be kept by the provider).

Parents who attend more than one provider need to be aware that only one payment can be made and they must nominate which provider that should be.

To claim

You can claim using The Department for Work and Pensions  Disability Living Allowance  claim form.

Contact A Family provide useful guidance on how to complete the application.

You can also view the Top Tips by Parents! Applying for Disability Living Allowance (DLA) Leaflet.

2. Special educational Needs Inclusion funding (SENIF)

Early Years Nursery providers receive universal element one funding for their children based on the hours per week they are entitled to. In a small number of cases children are identified as having a level of Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) which requires additional support.

Where the multi-agency view clearly indicates there are significant additional needs that require support beyond the settings inclusive offer then an application for SENIF can be made by the setting.

Manchester early years settings can request SEN inclusion funding (SENIF) to support the access to their provision for children who have emerging SEND needs.

A request for SENIF may be made for children accessing the Free Early Education Entitlements in Manchester. The child does not need to be resident of Manchester, but the setting requesting must be a Manchester setting.

Providers are required to demonstrate that the provision required for the child is significantly beyond high-quality inclusive practice and will be measured against incremental descriptors.

SENIF is a contribution towards meeting the needs identified in the request and should be used in conjunction with other funding streams such as the Disability Access Fund (DAF) and Early Years Pupil Premium.

Consideration for funding must be supported with evidence of graduated response, Assess-Plan-Do-Review cycle, child presenting difficulties in at least two of the four broad areas of need, and significant and persistent delay in meeting milestones.

Eligible children will have needs that are additional to their peers within the EY setting/nursery class, and which cannot be met from current support or early help services.

To make a request:

Early Years settings should complete the request form through the establishment portal.

School nursery classes should complete a request form and email it to:

eysenif@manchester.gov.uk

Manchester SEND Early Development Inclusion Team (SEDIT) can support EY settings through the process of requesting SENIF:  

To contact the team email: sedit@manchester.gov.uk

School nursery class can contact Rodney House school outreach: outreach@rodneyhouse.manchester.sch.uk

View information on Early Years Funding

April 2026

• Early Years SEN Inclusion Funding (SENIF): For Early Years settings, requests should continue to be completed through the establishment portal; this process will remain the same after April 2026. Schools should continue to send requests by email.From the 1st of April 2026, the email to be used will be eysenif@manchester.gov.uk