Funding and benefits support for children in education
- Child Tax Credits, Working Tax Credits and Child Benefit
- Government funding for childcare
- Disability Access Fund (DAF)
- Early Years Inclusion Funding – supported childcare funding
Child Tax Credits, Working Tax Credits and Child Benefit
If you are a carer in work and/or have dependent children, you might be entitled to claim Tax Credits (or the equivalent in Universal Credit) and Child Benefit.
For Working Tax Credits, you normally need to be in work for 16 hours or more per week and be:
- A single parent with a dependent child (or a couple where one of you is incapacitated or a carer).
- In a couple with dependent children where one of you works at least 16 hours per week and you work at least 24 hours per week between you.
For Child Tax Credits you may qualify in or out of work if you have a low or benefit income.
For more information and full criterial see HMRC tax credit and Universal Credit online information:
Child Tax Credits on GOV.UK (external link)
Universal Credit on GOV.UK(external link)
Government funding for childcare
Government funding that may be available for childcare includes:
- 15 hours of free childcare for all 3 and 4-year-olds
- free childcare for 2 to 4-year-olds
- Childcare Vouchers
- Working Tax Credit (Childcare Element)
- Childcare Element in Universal Credit
- Childcare Grant for students
- Care to Learn
Find out more: Choosing quality childcare in Haringey for children with SEND
Disability Access Fund (DAF)
Since April 2017, the government has introduced new funding for early years providers to support children with disabilities or SEN.
DAF funding supports access to early years childcare by, for example, supporting providers in making reasonable adjustments to their settings and/or helping with building capacity.
Early Years settings attended by eligible 3- and 4-year-olds will be entitled to receive a one-off payment of £615 per eligible child per year.
Find out more on the Disability Access Fund page.
Early Years Inclusion Funding – supported childcare funding
Early Years Inclusion Funding is a statutory requirement made available to Early Years settings to support children with SEND.
Where a setting cannot offer necessary additional support for financial reasons, they can make an application on behalf of the child to be submitted to a panel for consideration.
Find out more on the Early Years Inclusion Funding page
SEN support in mainstream schools
Maintained schools, free schools and academies all receive funding for children with SEND (special educational needs and or disabilities) in the same way because their responsibilities to pupils with SEND are the same.
All schools are expected to provide an inclusive education and wider school experience for all students.
Each school is required to say how they do this in their school's SEN information report.
Where children with SEND require additional support school have funds in their budgets to provide this.
Find out more about how support in schools is funded.
Education Health and Care Plans (EHCPs)
Should a child or young person require more support in school than could be funded at SEN Support level then they can apply for an Education Health and Care assessment which could lead to additional funding and support being provided by an Education Health and Care Plan.
Find out more about Education Health and Care Plans (EHCPs)
