Special Educational Needs Inclusion Funding (SENIF) and Early Years SEND Pathway
Special educational Needs Inclusion funding (SENIF)
Changes from 1st 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 - Early Years SEND Pathway: For Early Years settings, requests for the reception 2027 cohort should continue to be completed through the establishment portal; this 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 eysendpathway@manchester.gov.uk
Manchester early years settings can request EY SEND 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.
EY SEND inclusion funding is not available for children of reception age.
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 can support EY settings through this process of requesting SENIF:
sedit@manchester.gov.uk
School nursery class can contact Rodney House school outreach: outreach@rodneyhouse.manchester.sch.uk
Early Years SEND Pathway:
The EY SEND pathway supports early identification, the EY SEND pathway panel is a multi-agency panel. During a child's nursery year settings or outreach complete a request form, and the information is taken to a monthly panel. The outcome is shared with families regarding the next step - ready for reception.
For children with identified significant and complex needs the Early Years SEND process is the route to plan for appropriate future educational support
To make a request:
Early years settings should complete a request form through the establishment portal.
School |Nursery classes should complete a request form and email it to:
eysendpathway@manchester.gov.uk
Donna Griffin – Team Manager
Who to contact
Where to go
- Address
-
Manchester
Costs
- Associated Cost
- No
Availability
- Age Ranges
- 0 to 5 years
- Referral required
- Referral Details
Referrals for individual or group support can be sent by post to Rodney House School or secure email to rhosey@rodneyhouse.manchester.sch.uk
Age Range 0 to 5 years
Disclaimer
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Whilst every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of the information provided in this directory, "we" (Manchester City Council) do not accept any responsibility or liability for any errors that have occurred or if the information provided is not up to date. "We" are also not responsible for the content of third party websites / emails listed in the information / records visible on this website.
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Background checks
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For that reason it is important that you carry out your own independent checks and verifications and are entirely satisfied before acting on the basis of any information or other material supplied in the website.
For advice on how to make your own appropriate checks and verifications please read the checklist information below.
Checklist
Note that the following advice which is given as a guide only, is given without any liability. In some circumstances this advice may not be sufficient. Therefore where appropriate you may need to seek further independent expert advice.
Some of the organisations on the website are not required to be registered with regulatory bodies. Therefore it is important that you make sure that the service is safe and entirely suitable for your needs especially if it is related to children or vulnerable persons. Below are some of the things you need to look out for.
- Check that the staff have been appropriately vetted. For more information on this please visit DBS.gov.uk
- Check that the service has child protection procedures in place if they are directly involved with children.
- Check that the staff are qualified and trained in the specific area.
- Check that the service operates an anti-discriminatory practice.
- Check that the service protects children, young people and vulnerable adults where it is required to do so.
- Check that the service has a health and safety policy.
- Check that the service has a complaints procedure.
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