Inclusion fund

The Inclusion Fund is available to support eligible children with special educational needs (SEN) who are taking their entitlement to funded early education or childcare.

The fund (previously known in Lancashire as additional inclusion support or AIS) provides additional top up funding to private, voluntary, independent and maintained early years group settings and childminders

Local authorities are required to have SEN inclusion funds under the early years national funding formula (external link to GOV.UK).

The following pages provide guidance for all early years providers in Lancashire delivering funded early education.

The majority of children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) do not require specialist resources or enhanced levels of staffing to access and be included in their local early years setting. In their approach to the EYFS and in line with their duties under the Equality Act (2010), most early years settings are able to successfully include and address the needs of children with a wide range of SEND.

Building on existing good practice in early years settings, and as part of the graduated approach, the Inclusion Fund provides support to early years settings to address the needs of individual children who have emerging and identified special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) and promote inclusion.

Sometimes a short term, targeted and measured intervention would support a child to make progress and improve outcomes. Where a sustained level of intervention is required and this is beyond the provision ordinarily available or expected within an early years setting, support may be available through the Inclusion Fund.

For the majority of children support through the Inclusion Fund will enable settings to effectively address their needs. However, for children with more severe or complex needs, especially those for whom specialist provision may be required, it is envisaged that a request for an Educational, Health and Care Needs Assessment will be made and where appropriate an Education Health and Care Plan may be issued. This is in line with the Early Years Entitlements: Local Authority Funding of Providers Operational Guide 2025-26:

"A local authority’s SENIF is for supporting children below compulsory school age with SEN and who are eligible for the entitlements. SENIF funding should be targeted at supporting children with low-level or emerging SEN"

All early years providers in Lancashire who are eligible to receive the Early Education Funding (EEF) can apply for additional funding through the Inclusion Fund, for eligible children.

Eligible providers are:

• Local Authority maintained nursery schools and nursery classes

• Private

• Voluntary

• Independent

• Childminders

Eligible children are:

• Children in receipt of early education and childcare funding (9 months / 2year olds / 3-4 year olds)

In line with the Early years entitlements: local authority funding operational guide 2025-26, "As with other elements of early years funding, SENIFs should apply to children attending settings in the relevant local authority area, regardless of where they live." (9.1).

It is expected that any applications for funding would complement the undertaking of any training ordinarily available, for example, via partners in Health (for example specific, individual health care needs such as training in tube feeding or epilepsy management), via EY SENCO Network meetings provided by the Specialist Teaching Service, as well as free e-learning such as that available via Nasen or PDNet.

The Inclusion Fund is not available for building adaptations associated with the child’s admission into an early years setting. Providers who are not or cease to be eligible to receive EEF from the local authority cannot access the Inclusion Fund.

The Local Authority (LA) has an identified Inclusion fund which is made available through the Early Years Block of the Dedicated Schools Grant. For the financial year 2025-26 the Inclusion Fund has been identified as £2.65m.

It should be noted that once the available monies have been committed, no further funding will be available until the start of the next financial year. The Local Authority will monitor and review expenditure at least annually and may make adjustments to funding levels where required.

The Inclusion Fund is intended to develop provision and practice and support the implementation of evidence-based approaches to improve outcomes for young children with emerging SEND.

Currently this payment is £83 per week, up to maximum 38 weeks. The provision of additional funding will usually be reviewed on a six-monthly basis as children's progress towards identified outcomes is reviewed. It is intended to enable settings to implement specific advice and guidance from Specialist Teachers, and other relevant professionals, to support the progress and outcomes for individual children. It is anticipated that settings will develop their capacity, in terms of skills and confidence, to implement more 'specialist' practices and approaches to address children's needs in the future.

The following are examples of how this funding may be used:

• Contribute towards enhanced staffing levels to deliver specific targeted interventions, for example, additional staff time above and beyond that already expected within the setting as a reasonable adjustment at SEN Support to:

  • provide an additional 20 mins focused work on specific individual programme 3x per week for 6 weeks (in line with TLP)

  • intermittent periods throughout the day to introduce an individual visual timetable to a child over a 4-6 week period (in line with TLP)

• Practitioners attend training as it relates to supporting children's (individual or group) needs, such as Makaton, BSL, moving and handling, supporting young children with ASD, bucket time, supporting young children with speech, language and communication needs, working with young children with multisensory impairment (MSI), deaf awareness or working with young children with a visual impairment.

• Practitioners in a setting registered for children aged 2-4 require resources, not ordinarily available in their provision, for children working at a significantly younger levels of development.

The Inclusion Fund monies should be used in conjunction with the setting's own budget and with any other funding received, for example, Early Years Pupil Premium (EYPP) or Disability Access Fund (DAF).

It is recognised that children develop and progress in different ways and at different rates and have different needs at different times. The Inclusion Fund should only be applied for when the setting has:

• precisely identified a child's level of development and that this is delayed.

• clearly identified the child's needs and identified appropriate outcomes to work towards to support the child to make progress.

• implemented and reviewed the impact of appropriate approaches and strategies to support the child to make progress towards identified outcomes.

Settings should be clear about how the additional provision they are making for the child is above and beyond that which is ordinarily available within an early years setting and exceeds the expectations for reasonable adjustments.

To support settings in achieving the above, it is ordinarily expected that a 'Request for Involvement' from the Specialist Teaching Service, Early Years Team will have been made prior applications being submitted.

Applications to the Inclusion Fund form part of the graduated approach to meeting children's SEND. It is therefore expected that settings will have a range of evidence identifying the child's needs and the steps that they have taken to as part of their everyday practice, reasonable adjustments and SEN Support interventions to address these for example: tracking over time and across the areas of learning and development within the EYFS, individual provision maps, targeted learning plans (TLPs) and reviewed TLPs.

Apply for inclusion funding

It should be noted that applications may not always result in requests for funding being agreed.

It should also be noted that applications for Inclusion Funding should not be made for children with a final Education Health and Care Plan as funding provision to meet their needs will be identified and supported through the statutory process.

Applications for Inclusion Fund are considered by specialist teachers supporting children in early years settings.

This may include teachers from the following teams of the Specialist Teaching Service:

• Early Years Team

• Teacher of Deaf Children/Young People Team

• Teacher of the Vision/Multisensory Impaired Children/Young People Team

Applications for Inclusion Fund will be considered regularly.

If an application is agreed, the setting will receive payment as soon as practicable thereafter.

• Payments will include all weeks for the term in which the application is agreed.

• Funds can be agreed for up to two terms at a time.

• Funding will be paid on a termly basis in line with the following: 14 weeks in the autumn term, 12 weeks in the spring term and 12 weeks in the summer term.

• Where children transfer to a new setting part way through or at the end of a term after Inclusion Fund has been agreed, any funding agreed for future terms will be paid to the new setting. Settings are required to inform the Specialist Teaching Service of any cases where this applies.

Payments will be made directly to settings via BACS (PVI providers) or Journal Transfer (maintained providers).

If, following an assessment, an education, health and care plan (EHCP) is issued, the funding associated with the EHCP will supersede Inclusion Funding and reviews should be held in line with the requirements of the SEND Code of Practice.

Following the implementation of identified interventions, practitioners should review the child's progress with their specialist teacher.

It is expected that some children will have had their needs effectively addressed and that no further Inclusion Fund support is required. It is also acknowledged that for some children a period of ongoing intervention supported by the specialist teacher to consolidate progress may be needed, though this may not require ongoing Inclusion Fund support.

Where it is agreed, in discussion with the specialist teacher, a request for continuation of Inclusion Funding can be made using the online form:

Submit an inclusion funding review

Following the review process (including the submission of the review online form), the specialist teacher will approve and arrange continuation of the Inclusion Funding.

A request for continuation of Inclusion Funding should be considered towards the end of the term when current funding is due to cease, or during the following term as appropriate.

Any funding agreed must be used for the purposes indicated in the application. Use of Inclusion Fund will be monitored by the Specialist Teaching Service, Early Years Team as part of their involvement in supporting children and settings.

For the purposes of monitoring and auditing the Inclusion Fund, settings are required to keep receipts and evidence of actual expenditure; these may be requested in future.

Should these not be available, or evidence indicates that the Inclusion Fund monies were not used for the stated purpose then settings may be required to pay monies back in part or in full.

Applications cannot be made retrospectively, that is, for resources or training already purchased or for support already provided.

Applications for any specific therapeutic interventions will not be considered.