Early Years Inclusion Funding

Early Years Inclusion Funding application form

Guidance for applying for EYIF

EYIF panel dates for 2023 2024

EYIF panel dates for 2024 2025

* Bradford Matrix of Need 

Payments

FAQ’s

How to contact us?

For further information and/or enquires please email earlyyearsinclusionfunding@bradford.gov.uk

Early Years Inclusion Funding

The EYIF panels will continue to run on a monthly basis and the deadlines for submission to the panels can be found above.

All applications require a written signature in the parental consent section. 

All applications should be submitted electronically via Galaxkey secure email to  earlyyearsinclusionfunding@bradford.gov.uk .

What is Early Years Inclusion Funding?

Early Years Inclusion Funding (EYIF) is allocated to promote the inclusion of children within a pre-5 setting who may require additional / different provision due to their Special Educational Need and/or Disability (SEND). This funding also supports local authorities to undertake their responsibilities to strategically commission SEND services as required under the Children and Families Act 2014. Local authorities are expected to target their Early Years SEND Inclusion Funds at children with lower-level emerging SEND. ‘Emerging SEND’ is not defined within the DfE’s guidance. We define this as children, assessed as requiring any SEND Support who do not have an Education Health and Care Plan (EHCP). At the point an EHCP is put in place for a child, the resources allocated via this EHCP will replace EYIF funding.

Early Years Inclusion Funding will only be allocated to children who are taking their early years entitlements, up to a maximum of 15 hours (Under 2s and 2-year-olds entitlements) and 30 hours (3&4-year-olds entitlements).

For 2024/25, we continue our existing EYIF arrangements, with these arrangements extended to the new entitlements. For the new 2-year-olds Working Parents entitlement, applications for EYIF will be considered from 1 April 2024. For the new Under 2s Working Parents entitlement, applications for EYIF will be considered from 1 September 2024.

How do I access it?

Guidance for applying for EYIF is available to enable the successful completion and acceptance of an EYIF application in a timely manner.  Guidance for applying for EYIF in the above.

Applications are made by providers on an individual child basis using the prescribed referral form. Providers are required to fully evidence that the needs of the child have been appropriately assessed and that the provider has already made adjustments to meet the child’s needs.  The provider should also evidence that they have accessed all available resources e.g. Disability Access Funding (DAF) and Early Years Pupil Premium. The referral form asks the provider to set out why additional funding is now required, and the level of support (number of hours of support) requested.  Decisions will be taken by a panel that will consider 4 matters in each application:

A copy of an application form and EYIF panel/ submission deadlines can be found above.

Submission of applications

If an additional documentation is sent, please indicate the child’s name and type of document when attaching.  This ensures that supplement documents are held with the correct child’s details for panel review.  For example, Fred Jones Care Plan.

All Early Years Inclusion Funding applications must be submitted via Galaxkey secure email to:  earlyyearsinclusionfunding@bradford.gov.uk

Please do not send to any other email address as there is risk that your application may be missed and therefore not reviewed at panel. 

Applications received after the given deadline will be submitted to the EYIF panel meeting the following month.

How does the panel decide on whether funding is agreed?

The Panel will consider 4 matters in each application:

• Decision 1: Whether, against the agreed criteria, the child is eligible for inclusion funding.
• Decision 2: The number of hours (of the child’s entitlement) support will be funded for.
• Decision 3: The rate of funding per hour.
• Decision 4: The number of terms (or weeks) that support is to be funded for and the expiry date.

Decision 1 – the eligibility criteria are:

• The provider must be registered with Ofsted on either the Early Years Register or the Childcare Register or must be legally exempt from this registration.
• Inclusion funding will only be allocated to children aged 2, 3 or 4 who:
  • Are taking their early years entitlements, up to a maximum of 15 hours (under 2 & 2 year olds) and 30 hours (3&4 year olds), and
  • In their application, the provider must evidence that a child is eligible for Inclusion Funding. This evidence could include:
    • 2- year olds:  EYFS development levels are approximately from 10 to 17 months behind chronological age in two or more prime areas (for example, Cognition and Learning, Communication and Interaction, Social Emotional and Mental Health Needs and Sensory and/or Physical).
    • 3- year olds:  EYFS development levels are approximately from 18 to 25 months behind chronological age in two or more prime areas (for example, Cognition and Learning, Communication and Interaction, Social Emotional and Mental Health Needs and Sensory and/or Physical).
    • 4-year olds:  EYFS development levels are approximately from 21 to 31 months behind chronological age in two or more prime areas (for example, Cognition and Learning, Communication and Interaction, Social Emotional and Mental Health Needs and Sensory and/or Physical).
    • The child may have been referred to and / or be known to one or more health and/or education professionals.
    • It would be expected that the early years provider intends to or has put in place a cycle of Assess, Plan, Do and Review.
    • Information required to demonstrate that the child is experiencing a delay in some of their developmental milestones, and                  
  • Are likely to require small group interventions and / or structured early years experiences with a high adult to child ratio of support required for up to 15% - 20% of time at setting, and
  • Do not have an Education Health and Care Plan, and
  • Are not placed in an Early Years Enhanced Specialist Provision or in a special school (as these places are already funded at a higher level), and
  • Are not in paid for childcare, and
  • Are not in an upper foundation (reception) class in a maintained primary school.                    
• In their application, the provider must also evidence:
  • That Wave 1* interventions (Quality First Teaching) are in place for all children and that a graduated response has taken place, evidencing a clear review process and the need for targeted Wave 2* Interventions as advised by professionals from appropriate services. * Please refer to the Bradford Matrix of Need document above.
  • That the parent or carer of the child has been a partner in the whole process.
  • Where appropriate, an EA1 Notification from Health has been received for the child.
  • Where a child is newly arrived in the country, advice from other services has been gathered to support the request for example Health Visitor, Paediatrician, Paediatric Therapist, Specialist Teacher, Access and Inclusion Officer, Portage Service, has been gathered to support the request.
  • That the provider has exhausted all avenues of support available to them from within existing funding.
  • That reasonable adjustments to meet the needs of the child have already been made. This includes how the provider has used the DAF and/or Early Years Pupil Premium, if the child is eligible.
  • Why existing staffing is insufficient to meet the child’s needs.

Decision 2 – The number of hours to be funded. The approach is as follows:

• The provider must set out in the application both the number of entitlement hours per week the child is taking with the provider as well as the number of hours per week the provider is requesting funded support for.
• The Panel will determine whether the provider’s requested hours is accepted or amended. The Panel will translate this into a % of funding based on the hours a child attends their early education entitlement per week.
• The Panel will assume that the weekly entitlement is delivered across 38 weeks per year, unless indications that the entitlement is stretched all year round. Providers will be allocated monies on this basis.

Decision 3 – The rate of funding per hour, is set at a standard (maximum) of £6.32.

• The national SEND ‘Place-Plus’ funding framework is based on the financial definition of a ‘High Needs’ child being one whose education, incorporating all additional support, costs more than £10,000 per annum (1 FTE). This threshold lays the foundation of the definition of the financial responsibility that schools, academies and other education providers have for meeting the needs of children from their delegated budgets.
• Schools are required to meet the first £10,000 of cost for children with SEND, both with and without EHCPs, from their core formula-funded budgets. This £10,000 is separated in the national model into Element 1, at a value of £4,000 per 1 FTE (25 hours) and Element 2, at a value of £6,000 per 1 FTE (25 hours). Element 1 £4,000 represents the core funding that all pupils attract. In the Early Years Single Funding Formula, Element 1 is allocated through the Setting Base Rates. Element 2 £6,000 is the contribution that schools are required to make from their ‘notional SEND’ budgets, which are derived from additional funding allocated using proxy indicators of additional needs, such as deprivation and low prior attainment. Element 2 is not present in the Early Years Single Funding Formula, although the Deprivation and SEND supplement does allocate a small amount of additional funding. As a result, the function of the Early Years SEND Inclusion Fund is to allocate Element 2 funding to children with emerging SEND.
• So, we define Element 2 as an amount per child per hour as follows: £6,000 / 25 hours (1 FTE) / 38 weeks = £6.32 per hour. So, for example:
  • A child accessing 15 hours early education entitlement per week, term time only with 5 hours of funded support = £6.32 x 5hrs x 38wks = £1,201 (this would equate to 33% funding).
  • A child accessing 30 hours early education entitlement per week, term time only with 15 hours of funded support = £6.32 x 15hrs x 38wks = £3,602 (this would equate to 50% funding).

Decision 4 – The number of weeks or terms that support is to be funded for and the expiry date. This would be determined by the Panel, taking account of the child’s age, needs assessment and timescale for transfer into reception. We would typically expect the time period to be expressed in terms for example 1, 2 or 3 terms and we would expect all funding decisions to be reviewed at least annually. Inclusion Funding is non-transferrable between providers and would cease when a child leaves a provider. Where a child leaves a provider part way through a half term then there would be a grace period for the remainder of that half term. The provider must inform Bradford Council if a child in receipt of Inclusion Funding leaves their setting/school. Any additional unspent funding after the end of that half term would be reclaimed by Bradford Council. Funding will cease when an EHCP is put in place.

Notification of outcome of an Early Years Inclusion Funding application

Providers will be notified of the outcome of an application within 4 weeks of the panel date at which the application was considered.

Payment of Early Years Inclusion Funding

Following each monthly panel confirmation is sought from the Early Education Funding Team to ensure that a child is eligible for early education entitlement before funding is released to the provider. These checks will take place after the termly headcount deadline; therefore, there may be a delay in payment at the start of a term.  EYIF funding can only be provided if the Early Education Entitlement has been claimed for the corresponding term and to the same number of hours claimed.  

All funding applications are funded at the hourly rate of £6.32. Providers in the Bradford Local Authority will receive payment via the Schools Funding Team (SFT) and Inclusion Funding will be paid alongside the early education funding directly into the bank. Please note that Inclusion Funding payments will not be itemised on the SFT payment remittance. However, providers can log onto Bradford Schools Online and refer to their payment schedule, which will identify how much Inclusion Funding will be paid that month. This payment schedule will have a reference of ‘Spring/Summer/Autumn Term SEND (EYIF)’. Providers will also receive an EYIF Outcome Summary via email which will indicate how much funding has been agreed for individual children and the period of funding allocated.

The provider must inform Bradford Council if a child in receipt of Inclusion Funding leaves their setting/school. Details of this must be submitted in an email to earlyyearsinclusionfunding@bradford.gov.uk within 4 weeks of the child leaving the school/setting. Any overpayment or underspend of Inclusion Funding will be reclaimed by Bradford Council. This may be deducted from future Inclusion Funding payments or if applicable, will be recoverable by the issue of an invoice.

Continuation of Early Years Inclusion Funding

If Inclusion Funding is required at the end of the current funding period then the provider can submit the original application form, amended to reflect changes in need, assessments/dates, how the EYIF has already been utilised and a suggested timeframe for funding. It is recommended that this is submitted before the end of the current funding period to ensure there is no gap in funding, as funding cannot be backdated.