Under the Equality Act 2010, childcare providers have a legal duty to ensure they support the access of all children to their provision. The Disability Access Fund (DAF) was introduced to help funded providers make those reasonable adjustments within their provision to support children with a disability, be that for the child in question or for the benefit of children attending the setting.

The Disability Access Fund is a one-off payment of £910 per child per year to the provider nominated by the parent and is to be used to support the inclusion of eligible children from the age of 2 years old through reasonable adjustments. The payment is made regardless of how many hours a child attends and is not prorated. In Buckinghamshire payments are made in the term a child first becomes eligible and takes up an early education funded place and is then paid again on the first anniversary if the child is still in the setting. 

Providers will need to identify eligible children through conversations with parents and carers and record on the relevant Parent/Provider agreement form that they have seen evidence to show the child is in receipt of DLA. A copy of this evidence needs to be sent to the Early Years Funding Team via AnyComms Read More.