Families of disabled children face the same childcare rules as everyone else plus a set of additional entitlements that are genuinely useful and almost never explained together. Here is the whole picture in one place.
Your funded hours come with extra money attached
The Disability Access Fund pays your provider a lump sum for each eligible child — at least £975 a year in 2026/27. Three things make it unusual:
- It is paid as a lump sum, not per hour, and must not be pro-rated according to how many hours your child attends.
- It must be passed on in full to the provider and must not be offset against other funding the council already provides.
- It now applies across the age range, from 9 months upward, rather than only to 3- and 4-year-olds as it once did.
Your child is eligible if they receive Disability Living Allowance and are taking up any part of the funded entitlement. The provider claims it; you may need to tell them, because they cannot claim for a child they do not know is eligible.
The SEN Inclusion Fund is separate and is run by each council individually, so the amount and the application process vary by area. It exists to help settings meet the needs of children with lower-level or emerging SEND. Ask your council's early years team how theirs works — this is the one most commonly left unclaimed.
Your provider cannot bill you for SEND support
This follows from the general rule that funded hours must be free, and it is specifically listed among the charges that are not allowed: additional SEND support costs cannot be charged to you as part of, or as a condition of, your funded hours.
If a setting says it can only offer a place with one-to-one support that you pay for, that is not a lawful condition of a funded place. The funding routes for that support are the Disability Access Fund, the SEN Inclusion Fund and, where applicable, provision named in an EHC plan — not your bank account.
That is the rule. In practice, settings are sometimes genuinely stretched, and the productive conversation is usually with the council's early years SEND team rather than with the nursery manager alone.
Tax-Free Childcare is worth twice as much
For a disabled child the Tax-Free Childcare cap doubles:
| Standard | Disabled child | |
|---|---|---|
| Government top-up per year | £2,000 | £4,000 |
| Per quarter | £500 | £1,000 |
| Eligible until | 1 September after the 11th birthday | 1 September after the 16th |
Both the higher cap and the longer age range matter, and the extended age range in particular is easy to miss — five additional years of support for holiday clubs and after-school care.
For this purpose a child counts as disabled if they receive Disability Living Allowance, Personal Independence Payment, Child Disability Payment or Armed Forces Independence Payment, or if they are certified as severely sight impaired or blind.
Two-year-olds may qualify earlier
The 15 hours for eligible two-year-olds is usually associated with means-tested benefits, but there are routes that do not depend on income at all. A two-year-old can qualify if they have an EHC plan, receive Disability Living Allowance, or are looked after by the local authority.
This is worth checking even if your household income would rule you out of the benefits-based routes.
A practical order to work through
- Check Disability Living Allowance. It is the gateway to the Disability Access Fund and to the doubled Tax-Free Childcare cap, so a successful DLA claim unlocks several things at once.
- Tell your provider your child is DAF-eligible, and ask them to confirm they have claimed it.
- Ask your council about the SEN Inclusion Fund and what it funds locally.
- Check the two-year-old entitlement routes if your child is approaching two.
- Set up Tax-Free Childcare at the higher cap if you are eligible, and remember it runs to 16 rather than 11.
- Keep the funded hours free. If support costs appear on your invoice, raise it — with the council if necessary.
Common questions
Does the Disability Access Fund reduce my funded hours?
No. It is additional money for the provider, paid on top of the hourly funding, and it does not change your entitlement.
We applied for DLA and were refused. Is there anything else?
The SEN Inclusion Fund does not require DLA, and provision in an EHC plan is a separate route. Councils also often fund support for emerging needs without a formal diagnosis — ask the early years SEND team what is available locally.
My child has an EHC plan. Does that cover childcare?
It can name provision that must be delivered, which may include support in an early years setting. What it names is specific to the plan, so read it alongside your council's early years team.
Can a nursery refuse a place because of my child's needs?
Providers have duties under equality law to make reasonable adjustments. If you believe a place has been refused on the basis of disability, your council's early years team and the local Information, Advice and Support service are the places to raise it.