The early years SENCo role: A guide for 2026

Education, childcare and SEND support are in the midst of the largest changes in decades, and the early years SENCo role is central to all of it.

With SEND reform plans shared, education initiatives underway and new inspection expectations already in place, the role and responsibilities of an early years SENCo will only continue to grow.

This blog explores what the role involves, what it requires, and what the changes mean for your nursery day-to-day. Whether you’re a nursery manager, a practitioner who’s just taken on the SENCo role, or someone considering stepping into it, you’re in the right place.

What does an early years SENCo do?

The official definition of the early years SENCo role highlights four core areas that are essential to the position.

1. Making sure the whole team understands their responsibilities

Every practitioner in your setting should know how to identify a concern, use the graduated approach, and involve parents from the very start. An early years SENCo ensures the SEN policy is understood and used by everyone.

2. Advising and supporting colleagues

When there’s uncertainty about a child’s development or a practitioner needs support with outcomes, the early years SENCo is the person they turn to.

3. Keeping parents closely involved

The SEND Code of Practice is clear that parents’ insights should shape every decision made about their child, it’s the SENCos role to make sure that happens.

4. Liaising with professionals and agencies outside the setting

Working alongside professionals like, speech and language therapists, health visitors, portage services (home visiting services), and the local authority SEND specialist.

The early years SENCo connects the setting to the wider network around each child, and that network is getting more structured as the government’s Best Start Family Hubs roll out, as mentioned in the School White Paper and SEND Reform plans.

How does the nursery SENCo role differ from a school SENCo?

The early years SENCo in a PVI nursery is a Level 3 practitioner (there’s no requirement for qualified teacher status to be an EYFS SENCo).

To be an SENCo in a school setting, a postgraduate award called the NASENCo must be completed within 3 years of taking up the position.

Level 3 early years SENCo qualification

What is it?

The Level 3 Award for SENCOs in early years settings is the qualification route for SENCos in PVI settings. It’s been designed specifically for the early years context and has been funded by the DfE.

What does it cover?

• The SEND and EYFS frameworks
• The graduated approach in practice
• Working effectively with families
• Liaising with external professionals and understanding the local offer
• Leading SEND practice across the setting

How is it delivered?

It runs for around six months through a mix of taught sessions and independent study.

Most providers offer a combination of online and in-person learning, which works well for practitioners who can’t step away from the setting for long periods.

Is EYFS SENCo funding available?

In 2023, the DfE committed to funding up to 7,000 early years practitioners to gain the SENCo qualification by 2024. Funded places were available via multiple providers, the most accurate way to check if funding allocations given to the providers is still available is via the DfE Early Years Continuing Professional Development page.

Why the early years SENCo role is changing

Three government documents published between July 2025 and February 2026 have significantly shifted expectations for the SENCO in a nursery setting.

Here’s what each one means.

The Best Start in Life Strategy (July 2025)

The government’s The Best Start in Life Strategy set a clear target: 75% of children reaching a good level of development by 2028.

It explicitly names SEND support in the early years as an area needing improvement, and signals that Best Start Family Hubs will become the local route through which families access SEND support.

For the early years SENCo, the external liaison part of the role is going to become more structured as these hub networks develop. Settings with strong existing relationships with their local offer and external professionals are already in a strong position.

The Schools White Paper: Every Child Achieving and Thriving (February 2026)

The Schools White Paper introduced a new Inclusive Mainstream Fund worth £1.6 billion over three years, available to early years settings alongside schools and post-16 providers.

It’s designed to fund:

• Small group language support
• Adaptive teaching approaches
• Staff development around identifying commonly occurring needs

It also confirmed DfE funding for partnerships between early years settings and schools to test and improve transition approaches for children with SEND. The SENCo in a nursery will have a central role in making those partnerships work in practice.

Implementation is being phased across three overlapping stages:

• Aligning to best practice which will happen across 2026
• Preparing for SEND and curriculum reforms from 2026/27
• Full implementation of the strategy plans from 2028/29

The SEND Reform Consultation (February 2026)

The SEND reform paper is the most significant document for the SENCo role at the moment. When the consultation concludes, the final SEND system changes will be released (this is the same way the Ofsted Framework changes were released).

What’s being proposed?

There are lots of proposed changes to how SEND children will be supported, including a new layered SEND support model: Universal, Targeted, Targeted Plus, and Specialist.

New Individual Support Plans (ISPs) will be digital records of every child’s barriers to learning and the provision in place to address them, for all children with identified SEND.

There will be new terminology for identifying SEND needs, moving away from the current four broad areas of need.

A new national SEND training programme backed by over £200 million will apply across the 0-25 system, with all early years staff receiving national, evidence-based training on SEND and inclusion.

What does it say about the SENCo role?

The consultation states that SENCos need the time, authority and resources to lead SEND provision effectively, and that settings should build workforce models that make the most of SENCo expertise. Although it’s unclear whether this will apply to school settings only or also to PVI nurseries.

We’ll find out more about what the new SENCo role will look like when the SEND Code of Practice is updated (which will be after the Children and Wellbeing and Schools Bill is passed and released).

What Ofsted is now looking for

If you want a very practical reason why the nursery SENCo role matters right now, the new Ofsted inspection framework gives you a clear one.

Inclusion is now a standalone graded area

From November 2025, inclusion became an evaluation area in its own right. The Early Years Inspection Toolkit breaks down the Ofsted evaluation area of inclusion into the new five-point scale:

• Exceptional
• Strong standard
• Expected standard
• Needs attention
• Urgent improvement

What can trigger ‘urgent improvement’ for inclusion?

• Leaders not identifying, assessing or meeting children’s needs well enough
• Ineffective support for children with SEND
• Failure to meet statutory requirements for children receiving additional support

What does ‘exceptional’ look like for SEND?

At the top end, ‘exceptional’ requires leaders to have a transformational impact on outcomes for children with SEND. That means visible, lasting differences to how children achieve and flourish, not just processes in place.

Your nursery SENCo will be sought out directly

The Ofsted Operating Guide is clear that inspection activities will typically include a discussion with, or observations alongside, the member of staff acting as SENCo. Your early years SENCo is right at the centre of the key inspection activities.

What to do now

Here’s where to focus as a nursery manager heading into this period of change:

• Audit who holds the SENCo role and whether they’re working towards or already hold the Level 3 Award
• Evaluate how you are creative with supporting SEND needs on an EYFS budget, especially for those children without additional funding attached to an EHCP.
• Build time into their timetable so they can lead SEND practice, not just manage the admin linked with the early years SENCo role
• Review your SEN policy together and check that it reflects current graduated approach expectations
• Prepare your SENCo for the inclusion focus, they should be confident talking to an inspector through your identification and SEN support processes (as should all staff)

Your SENCo leads your SEN provision, but every practitioner in your setting is accountable for child development. When you’re preparing your staff for Ofsted, make sure they’re confident talking about how they each take responsibility for every child’s progress and well-being.

For more on preparing your whole team for an Ofsted inspection and evidencing your inclusion and SEND practice, we have a wealth of EYFS Ofsted preparation blogs that are a good place to start.

The early years SENCo role has always been central to what good nursery provision looks like. In 2026, with all of the planned changes to education and childcare ahead, it’s the right time to make sure the role is set up to work properly.

Supporting your SENCo is one part of the wider picture of nursery leadership right now. We’ve pulled together the top areas nursery managers are focusing on for 2026 in one place.

Download your free Complete Guide to Nursery Management for 2026 and navigate the latest changes with confidence.

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