The Disability Access Fund (DAF) is funding available to an early years provider to support the inclusion of children with special educational needs and/or disability (SEND) to access their universal government funding entitlement.
It can be used to support providers in making reasonable adjustments to their settings and/or helping with building capacity.
Eligibility
A child will be eligible for DAF if:
- the child is in receipt of Disability Living Allowance (DLA)
and the child receives one of the following:
- the universal 15 hours entitlement for 3- and 4-year-olds, or
- the 15 hours entitlement for families receiving additional forms of government support, or
- the 15 hours entitlement for children aged 2- years of working families, or
- the 15 hours entitlement for children aged 9 months to 2 years of working families.
The child does not have to use the full 570 hours of entitlement.
Four-year olds in primary reception classes are not eligible for DAF funding.
How the Disability Access Fund is paid:
£910 is paid once, annually to the early years provider for each eligible child.
If the child eligible for DAF is splitting their free entitlement across two or more providers, the parent will be asked to nominate the main provider.
If the child moves setting in the same financial year, the fund will stay with the designated early years provider and the child will not be eligible for a new payment until one year on from the first payment in the next financial year.
How to get the Disability Access Fund
Early years providers are responsible for identifying eligible children.
For each eligible child, the early years provider will need to provide the following to the local authority:
The nominated early years provider will then need to email eysenteam@hounslow.gov.uk stating that they have a child in their provision who is eligible to access Disability Access Fund. They will then be sent information on next steps to access the fund.
In cases where a child who lives in one local authority attends a setting in another local authority, eligibility checking and funding the DAF for the child is the responsibility of the local authority in which the setting is based.
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