We know that the early years are a critical window for identifying and supporting children's needs - and that high-quality, inclusive practice in the earliest years can make a lasting difference to outcomes throughout a child's life.

In our Giving Every Child the Best Start in Life strategy published last July, we committed to embedding inclusive practice across early years settings, increasing inclusion funding and making it simpler to access, and having family facing SEND practitioners in every Best Start Family Hub. The strategy also includes new partnerships between early years settings and schools to strengthen transitions into Reception.

We are building on these commitments and investing in and improving the system now, as the first phase of our proposed reforms.

This month, we have been publishing new guidance on creating an inclusive environment for every child. You can find the latest guidance and resources to help you take practical steps below.

We have now publishedguidance for local authorities and early years providers on how to use the Inclusive Early Years Fund (IEYF), the early years strand of the IMF, to strengthen inclusive practice across early years settings.

Through the IEYF, we are providing £47 million in 2026-27 to settings to improve support for all children, including those with SEND.

Local authorities should plan how they will distribute funding to enable providers to use their allocation, alongside their core funding, to

• embed a strong universal inclusive offer
• remove commonly occurring barriers to participation
• support earlier identification and intervention of children with emerging needs

Funding should be used to support whole‑setting approaches to inclusion, rather than provision for individual children, and must not replace existing SEND funding such as SEN Inclusion Funding (SENIF) or Disability Access Funding (DAF).

Our new guidance should be read in conjunction with the IEYF conditions of grant, which outline permitted use of spending. Providers should be able to clearly demonstrate how funding has strengthened inclusive practice across their setting and improve support for children.

Over time, as we move to a fully reformed system, we aim to re-balance funding for SEND, directing much more of it into core budgets. This will allow planning for provision, employing staff and delivering interventions, without having to go through lengthy and burdensome external process to secure the resources needed to support children and young people with SEND.

Early years settings are a key part of this, and can benefit from High Needs Provision Capital Allocations (HNPCA), which provide funding to local authorities to expand and improve provision for children with SEND across all phases, including early years, helping to ensure sufficient and appropriate places are available.

We know that the physical environment can have a positive impact on wellbeing, engagement and achievement for all children, including those with SEND - for example, by supporting physical accessibility, creating breakout spaces and cultivating a more comfortable sensory environment.

This guidance responds by offering practical advice to help early years settings identify affordable, high-impact adaptations that can be made to existing buildings and outdoor spaces. It is intended to support leaders in making positive changes that are realistic within each local context.

This is supported by investment of £3.7 billion over five years enabling local areas to make education estates more accessible and inclusive, delivering a transformational expansion of inclusion bases in mainstream settings and expansion of special schools where needed to provide quality places for children with the most complex needs.

Early years settings can access our investment of £3.7 billion in capital investment between now and 2030 to expand capacity, including creating inclusion bases within mainstream settings, improving accessibility of buildings, and delivering additional special school places for children with the most complex needs.

Inclusion bases can play an important role in early years, when designed to reflect the developmental needs of children aged 0–5, by strengthening inclusive practice and providing more structured, specialist-informed support while ensuring children remain connected to the universal offer and the benefits of their local mainstream setting.

We will work closely with the early years sector to develop how inclusion bases operate in practice for young children, ensuring approaches are developmentally appropriate and support high-quality, inclusive provision.

£1.8 billion is being invested over the next three years through the Experts at Hand and Local Authority SEND Transformation Fund. Experts at Hand is available to all early years settings, including private, voluntary and independent providers and childminders. We are also asking local areas to consider how they reach young children who are not in early education, including through Best Start Family Hubs and Health Visitors.

It will give you easier access to specialist advice and guidance from professionals including:

• speech and language therapists and support workers or assistants
• educational psychologists and trainees
• occupational therapists and support workers or assistants
• specialist teachers, both local authority based and those based in specialist or AP settings

Experts will work alongside your staff, observing children in their learning environment, coaching and modelling effective approaches, and providing practical strategies that can be embedded into everyday teaching and learning. Support is focused primarily on groups, classes or whole-setting approaches, helping more children at once while building staff confidence and skills, with one-to-one help provided occasionally where it’s most needed.

Experts at Hand is designed to strengthen, not replace, existing SEND support, including provision accessed through EHCPs. Its focus is on early intervention, inclusive practice and building long-term capacity within mainstream settings.

By bringing health and education expertise closer to where children and young people are, and by strengthening partnerships between settings, health services and families, Experts at Hand aims to improve outcomes for pupils, reduce the need for escalation to specialist services and help create a more joined-up and sustainable SEND system where every child can achieve and thrive.

When used effectively, assistive technology – tools that help children with SEND overcome barriers to learning – can make a real difference. Feedback has told us assistive technology can help build children's independence, confidence and self-esteem. Practitioners have also highlighted that it can lead to a calmer environment, where children can learn and play alongside each other and feel part of a shared community.

These optional training materials include practical examples of how to integrate assistive technology into early years practice, with examples across early years settings, schools, and colleges. They focus on harnessing the benefits of low-cost, readily available assistive technology, such as dictation or text-to-speech software, and engaging with relevant specialists, like occupational therapists.

The materials are flexible and quick to complete (around an hour or less) and they're based on content previously approved by the Education Endowment Foundation. 

This is the first step, with more comprehensive assistive technology training to follow.

As part of this commitment, we are developing a national Early Years SEND CPD programme over the next three years to support early years educators in delivering inclusive, high-quality education for every child.

The first phase of this training programme will be available from September 2026, when every early years practitioner will be able to access an initial package of free online training focusing on inclusive practice and developing the knowledge and skills needed to identify and effectively support children with SEND in their settings.

From autumn 2027 a more comprehensive training offer will be rolled out, which will include in-depth webinars and a local support offer, to further develop the knowledge and skills needed to put inclusive practice into action.