Can I get childcare funding for my disabled 2-year-old?

Yes. A disabled 2-year-old in England gets 15 hours a week funded childcare if they receive Disability Living Allowance or have an EHC plan, regardless of income, plus a Disability Access Fund top-up paid to the nursery.

The route to the 15 hours

The funded entitlement most people call 'free childcare for 2s' is income-tested for families on benefits, but there are separate routes that are not means-tested at all. Your 2-year-old qualifies for 15 hours a week, term-time (38 weeks a year), if they get Disability Living Allowance (DLA) - the main disability benefit for children - or have an Education, Health and Care (EHC) plan, the legal document that sets out a child's special educational needs and the support for them. It does not matter how much you earn or whether you work (GOV.UK, 2026).

You do not need a diagnosis

The gateway is DLA or an EHC plan, not a label. DLA for children needs no formal diagnosis and can be claimed from birth; it is awarded where a child needs substantially more care, supervision or has more mobility difficulty than a child of the same age without a disability (GOV.UK, 2026). So a child still waiting for an autism or ADHD assessment can still qualify. One thing to be clear about: meeting the criterion gets you the offer, but you still have to find a nursery or childminder with a funded place and tell them your child is eligible - the hours are not granted automatically until a setting claims them for your child.

The Disability Access Fund - the bit most parents miss

On top of the hours, a disabled child on DLA who is taking up a funded early years place triggers the Disability Access Fund (DAF): a one-off annual payment of at least £975 per child for 2026-27 (up from £938 the year before). It is paid to the childcare provider, not to you, as a lump sum that the setting uses to help include your child - extra staff time, training or equipment. Your child only needs to be accessing some funded hours to trigger it; they do not have to take the full 15 (DfE, 2026). If your child splits hours across two settings, you nominate one main setting to receive the DAF.

This is England only. Scotland (funded early learning and childcare), Wales (Flying Start and the Childcare Offer) and Northern Ireland run their own separate schemes, so the figures and rules above do not apply there.

This page is general information, not clinical or legal advice.