Information for Parents and Carers
The implementation of an early years inclusion fund (EYIF) is a statutory duty of all local authorities. If your child has additional needs and attends a Derbyshire setting, they will be eligible for EYIF if:
- they are aged 9 months to 4 years old until they start in a school reception class
- and in receipt of a funded place – either a 9 to 23-month-old funded place, a 2-year-old funded place, or a 15 or 30 hour funded 3- and 4-year-old funded place.
EYIF enables access to extra funding to support your child's inclusion in their early years setting. The EYIF panel may also signpost settings to other services or resources to access additional advice and support.
All applications for EYIF must be made by the setting. It would usually be the SENCO or nursery manager who completes the application form. They do not have to ask for your consent, but we would expect them to talk to you about this as part of working with you to support your child. There is a parent form that you can complete as part of the application.
Information for Settings
EYIF is not intended to provide continuous 1:1 support for children. Good provision balances individual intervention with independence and inclusion. EYIF provides top-up funding to enable settings to enhance staffing ratios. This gives better support to children who need strategies which are additional to, or different from the normally available differentiated offer of provision. A high proportion of 1:1 support is only awarded to children with:
- life threatening medical needs
- profound and multiple learning disabilities (PMLD).
The funding is available to children attending Derbyshire settings. Their needs may be emerging, or they may have significant barriers to learning. It is available to children who attend either a non-maintained or maintained setting. Funding in intended to provide enhanced staffing to support the needs of the child. As such it is not available to lone childminders working without an assistant.
Settings should submit applications which show that a child's needs and barriers to learning require additional funding above the resources normally available to them. Applications must show evidence of the graduated response to the child’s needs through cycles of the assess, plan, do, review model. EYIF is part of the provision made at targeted and specialist level of the graduated response.
The EYIF panel meet every week to assess and moderate applications for funding. If the application is successful, the setting can claim funding from the week after the application is considered by the panel. Decision letters are sent out accordingly to the setting. The setting should inform the parents of the decision.
NEW applications for funding must now be made online using the Early Years SEN Inclusion Fund Application Form. Settings need to set up an account. Having an account means that settings can return to forms that they are not able to complete in one go. There is a supporting guide to completing the online form in the Related Documents section of this page.
Evaluations and requests for continued funding should also be made online using the Early Years SEN Inclusion Fund Evaluation Form.
For nursery children who are starting school in September, applications for Inclusion Panel funding for September should be made by the school using the Inclusion Panel Referral Form. These applications will be accepted in the summer term for funding decisions to be made in time to allow schools to plan staffing ahead of the start of the new school year.
Other documents supporting EYIF are attached to the 'Related Documents' section of this page.
Contact
Email: CS.EYSENInclusionFunding@derbyshire.gov.uk