What the Inclusion Support Program does
The ISP funds and supports early childhood education and care services to include children with additional needs, so every child can learn and play alongside their peers. It is aimed at the service, not the child: it helps educators remove barriers, build skills and change how they do things so your child can take part.
The Department of Education funds the program. Inclusion Agencies in each state and territory deliver it, working with a national Inclusion Development Fund Manager and local services.
The three kinds of support
- Professional support: Inclusion Agencies give services free advice and help to identify and address barriers to inclusion
- Specialist equipment: each Inclusion Agency runs a Specialist Equipment Library that lends services equipment for free, such as portable ramps, standing frames, specialised furniture, hoists and slings, and seating or posture aids
- Funding: the Inclusion Development Fund helps when advice and equipment are not enough
Inclusion Development Fund
The Inclusion Development Fund has four funding categories:
- Innovative solutions, for a creative approach to a specific barrier
- Immediate or time limited support
- Family Day Care top up
- Additional educators, which lets a service add an extra educator to the room so all children, including yours, can be supported
Which services can use it
The program is mainly for services approved for the Child Care Subsidy that provide centre based day care, outside school hours care or family day care. Your child must also meet the Child Care Subsidy eligibility requirements.
It does not cover state or territory government preschools and kindergartens, occasional care run by state or territory governments, or early intervention services. In Home Care is not eligible, although funding may help a child move from In Home Care to another type of care.
How families can get support
Families do not apply to the ISP. If you think it could help, talk to your child's centre, family day care educator or outside school hours care service. The service contacts its local Inclusion Agency, and will ask your permission to share information about your child.
It helps to share any reports from your child's therapists, and to agree with the service on what your child needs during the day, such as help with meals, toileting, transitions or communication.
The ISP and the NDIS
The NDIS does not pay child care fees or for the extra staff a child care service needs to include your child. That is the service's responsibility, supported by the ISP and the Child Care Subsidy. This is part of the wider rule that the NDIS does not fund supports that other systems are responsible for.
Your child's NDIS plan or early childhood supports can still pay for therapy, and therapists can visit the service to work with educators on strategies. Children 8 and under with developmental delay or autism may also use Thriving Kids supports, which began rolling out from 1 October 2026.