Yes. Childminders in an agency or network may share a SENCO, and a nursery chain can too, but the SEND Code of Practice 2015 expects every group setting to identify a SENCO with on-site responsibility for SEN. A SENCO is the person who coordinates support for children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). The rules on sharing one are not the same for every kind of early years provider.
What the SEND Code actually says
The SEND Code of Practice sets out three different positions, and it is easy to read across them wrongly:
- Childminders are encouraged to identify a person to act as SENCO, and those registered with a childminder agency or part of a network may share that role between them (para 5.53). This is the one place sharing is named in black and white.
- Group settings (a private, voluntary or independent nursery) are expected to identify a SENCO (para 5.53). The Code does not spell out sharing here, so the test is whether each site still has its own arrangements.
- Maintained nursery schools are stricter: they must ensure there is a qualified teacher designated as SENCO (para 5.52). This duty sits on the individual school and cannot be met by an informal share.
So can a chain share one person?
In practice, yes. A small chain or federation of nurseries can have one person hold the SENCO role across its sites, and many do. What the share cannot do is leave any one nursery without identifiable, day-to-day SEN coordination on the ground. The early years framework that carries this duty, the EYFS statutory framework in force from 1 September 2025, requires every group provider to have arrangements in place to identify and support children with SEND and to have regard to the SEND Code. A SENCO who is rarely on site, with no named person handling assess-plan-do-review day to day, will not meet that test however the staffing chart is drawn.
Why the distinction matters for you
If you run a single-setting private or voluntary nursery, you cannot borrow another setting's SENCO and call the duty discharged unless your own site keeps working SEN coordination. If you run a maintained nursery school, you need a designated qualified teacher in that role, not a shared informal arrangement. A shared SENCO works best inside a single agency, network or chain, and the arrangement should be written into each setting's SEN policy so it is clear who does what, and on which days, at every site.
Where the law comes from
Related
This page is general information, not clinical or legal advice.