New edition of Birth to 5 Matters launched
The Early Years Coalition has launched the updated and expanded second edition of Birth to 5 Matters (Bto5M), non-statutory guidance for the Early Years Foundation
We welcome DfE’s announcement of a new Inclusive Early Years Fund (IEYF) alongside their Inclusive Mainstream Fund for schools. It will provide £47 million of additional early years funding in 2026 to 2027 to support the early years sector to become more inclusive of children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). It is upfront funding intended to:
The IEYF is in addition to SENIF, DAF, EYPP and high needs block funding.
Local authorities will be asked to allocate the funding to settings, with a recommended minimum of £1,000 per setting. Further guidance on how settings are expected to use the funding will be issued in due course.
The recommended minimum means that LAs are not required to fund all providers, and some smaller settings will not receive IEYF funding. This targeted approach is intended to avoid very small allocations to settings that may have few or no children with SEND.
DfE recognise that today’s update may raise questions for settings that will not receive an allocation from the Inclusive Early Years Fund (IEYF) – particularly childminders and smaller PVIs. They are therefore developing a dedicated package of support for these settings, including enhanced support from Best Start Family Hubs, which will cover training, early identification, smoother transitions, and access to specialist advice — so that no setting is left without SEND‑related support. They work with stakeholders such as Early Education to describe and develop this offer ahead of publishing more detail in guidance in April. This will set out that Local authorities should ensure that providers not receiving an Inclusive Early Years Fund allocation in 2026 to 2027 are able to access this package of support to adopt setting-wide inclusive practices. Local authorities will need to take proactive steps to make providers fully aware of the support and how to access it.
This offer will be in addition to wider support available to all settings, including Early Years Stronger Practice Hubs and Early Years SENCo training, and new offers outlined in the SEND consultation paper, including the SEND national training package and Experts at Hand offer.
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