Apply through your local authority. For under-fives the route is the SEN Inclusion Fund (SENIF) every council must run; for school-age pupils the school funds the first £6,000, then applies for high needs top-up. ‘SEN inclusion funding’ means two different things depending on the child’s age, so the first job is working out which pot you are actually asking for. A diagnosis is not needed for either route, and for school-age children you do not need an EHC plan first.
First, work out which funding you mean
The two pots get conflated constantly. For a child below compulsory school age, SENIF is a real, named fund every local authority must hold. For a school-age pupil there is no national ‘inclusion fund’: the school meets the first £6,000 a year of additional support from its own delegated budget, then asks the council for top-up above that. The table below splits them.
| Early years (under compulsory school age) | School-age pupil | |
|---|---|---|
| The fund | SEN Inclusion Fund (SENIF), which every council must run | No single fund; high needs top-up (Element 3) above the threshold |
| Who pays first | The council, as a top-up grant to the setting | The school, from its notional SEN budget (Element 2): the first £6,000 per pupil per year |
| Who applies | The setting’s SENCO or manager, case by case | The school’s SENCO, to the council, for costs above £6,000 |
| EHC plan needed? | No | No: top-up can come via an EHC plan or a local SEN-Support / banding panel |
How to apply, step by step
- Build the evidence first. Whichever pot, the council wants proof of provision already tried and its impact: a costed provision map and the assess-plan-do-review cycles behind it. This is the part that wins or loses the application.
- Early years: complete the LA’s SENIF form. The setting’s SENCO or manager submits the council’s SENIF application, usually attaching the child’s SEN Support plan and costed provision, to the LA panel that decides each case.
- School-age: request top-up above £6,000. Once provision is costing more than your budget can absorb, submit either an EHC needs assessment request or your council’s top-up or banding form, with the costed evidence.
Timelines are set locally, not nationally
Both routes run to the council’s own timetable, so check your Local Offer for the panel dates and the forms. The one statutory clock is the EHC route: where you ask for an EHC needs assessment, the council has 6 weeks to decide whether to assess and 20 weeks to issue a final plan. In the 2026–27 financial year the school threshold below which you fund SEN support yourself remains £6,000 per pupil.
If you are told ‘apply for an EHCP first’
For a school-age pupil that is often wrong. Top-up does not require a plan: most councils run a local SEN-Support or banding panel that awards it to high-cost pupils on the evidence of provision, with no EHCP. If a panel declines, ask for the decision and the band it was scored against in writing, then use the council’s review route. See what Element 3 top-up funding is and how to apply for high needs funding for a pupil.
This is current practice. The February 2026 Schools White Paper and the Education for All Bill propose an Individual Support Plan and narrowing EHC plans to the most complex needs over the next decade, but no changes take effect before September 2030, so the SENIF and the £6,000-plus-top-up mechanics are what apply today.
Where the law comes from
- DfE: Early years entitlements, local authority funding operational guide 2026 to 2027 (SENIF) (GOV.UK)
- DfE: Local authority management of SEN inclusion funding (SENIF), examples of practice (GOV.UK)
- DfE: The notional SEN budget for mainstream schools, operational guidance 2026 to 2027 (£6,000 threshold and top-up) (GOV.UK)
- SEND Code of Practice 2015 (statutory guidance on the school's best-endeavours duty)
Related
This page is general information, not clinical or legal advice.