Within its Early Years Funding Manifesto, Dingley’s Promise recommends the way funding is accessed by early years settings to support children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) be simplified.
It says currently the availability of early years places for children with SEND are ‘scandalously low’, with many settings having to fund support out of their own pocket.
The charity wants the link removed between Disability Access Funding (DAF) and Disability Living Allowance (DLA) to make funding more accessible to settings.
Currently, in order for a setting to get Disability Access Funding (DAF) the child must have Disability Living Allowance (DLA), which parents have to secure through a complicated application procedure, says Dingley’s Promise.
It argues that this application process puts ‘significant pressure on families, and for many parents it is simply too early in their journey to feel comfortable making the application’. As a consequence, DAF is underspent in many local authority areas.
The charity also wants the application process for the SEN Inclusion Fund to be reviewed so it is reflective of the cost of delivering specialised care. At the moment, it says that funding is often given for less hours than a child is entitled to and most of the time doesn’t come until the child has been in the setting for some time, meaning providers often have to cover the cost of additional support.
Along with its calls for action, Dingley’s Promise is encouraging early years providers and parents to lobby their MP to raise the issues with parliamentary debates and more widely.
Chief executive Catherine McLeod said, ‘As the new early years entitlements come in, it has never been more important to make sure there are places for children with SEND available. Historically, new entitlements have led to less availability for these children, because when settings are under pressure they don’t have the resources to admit children who might need more support.
‘Already, provision for children with SEND in the early years is scandalously low – just 18 per cent of local authority areas believe they have enough. We must secure the right funding at the right time so that settings can give children the early support that they need, and to take the pressure off families who are already struggling.’
