Early Childhood Services Early Years Disability Access Fund

The Disability Access Fund (DAF) is there to assist children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) access their early years education.

Early Years Providers in Nottinghamshire are eligible to receive annual DAF funding of £915 as of April 2024 where a two, three or four year old child is taking up a place and is in receipt of the Disability Living Allowance (DLA). 

From April 2024 DAF Funding will also be available to eligible two-year olds.

Disability Living Allowance (DLA) for children may help with the extra costs of looking after a child who:

• is under 16
• has difficulties walking or needs much more looking after than a child of the same age who does not have a disability

They will need to meet all the eligibility requirements.

For further information on DLA look on Disability Living Allowance (DLA) for children - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

DAF can be claimed in addition to Early Years Inclusion Funding. 

Four year olds in primary school reception/foundation stage 2 classes are not eligible for DAF funding but children in maintained nursery settings are eligible for DAF funding.

If a child, eligible for DAF, is splitting their free entitlement across two or more providers their parent(s) will need to nominate the provider to whom they wish the payment to be made. This will usually be the provider where the child is accessing the majority of their free entitlement hours.

If a child receiving DAF moves from one provider to another, the new provider is not eligible to receive DAF for this child within the same academic year. The new provider will need to wait until the following academic year to be able to apply for funding for the child

DAF Expenditure:

• Should aid the child with SEND to access of their early years place, for example by making reasonable adjustments to their setting and / or helping to build capacity, whether that is for the child in question or for the benefit of all children attending the setting.
• DAF may be used for staff training to support a child’s specific need.