After the publishing of the SEND Reforms PACC has been busy attending meetings, workshops and webinars to build our understanding of what these might mean for SEND families and how we can support you to have a voice in the changes locally and nationally.
We have shared a variety of resources from a number of trusted sources providing information on different aspects of the proposed reforms. There is an opportunity to participate in a consultation on some aspect of the reforms but not all. Some work has started locally to deliver elements of the planned changes to the system that are not part of the consultation. The consultation closes on the 18th May 2026 and you can access it here
Local Areas are currently being asked to develop a Local Area SEND Reforms Plan which aims to create a more inclusive, evidence-based system, by strengthening mainstream school capacity and building local partnerships. A key element of the plan is developing the new “Experts at Hand” offer, funded by a £1.8 billion national investment over three years. This is intended to provide faster access to specialist support, such as educational psychologists and speech therapists, without requiring a formal Education, Health and Care Plan and is a 0-25 offer. Experts at Hands will not provide support, advice or therapy for individual children but will increase mainstream education settings access to expert professionals (both health and specialist education professionals) who can provide whole setting support, tailored guidance and strategic advice, as well as some group level interventions.
Shropshire has a Year 1 allocation of £1,943.857 – at least 80% of which must be spent on direct delivery of ‘Experts at Hand’ across all education settings (0-25). No more than 10% can be spent on the administration of ‘Experts at Hand’ and no more than a further 10% is to be spent on local authority transformation costs.
Local authorities are required to submit their first Local SEND Reform Plan by June 2026, followed by quarterly updates. Developing a Local SEND Reform Plan is an important first step for local areas to set out how they will lay the foundation for reform and design an approach that responds to local needs. There is an expectation that the plan will be system wide, with a clear commitment from all partners and will be co-produced with the local SEND community.
The timescale to produce the initial plan is very tight, and this does impact how we coproduce this document. PACC representatives are joining regular meetings working on this and we are sharing key themes that have previously been shared with us during our work. This includes key issues raised with our Community Navigator Service, the feedback captured in recent surveys and the conversations we regularly have with the Shropshire SEND Community over social media and at events.
We want to provide you with a specific opportunity to share your thoughts on this work however and check our thinking with you. We have therefore created a short survey asking you to provide feedback on the key themes we have already identified and asking you to share further thoughts on how the Shropshire SEND system can be improved. The survey will be open for two weeks, until Monday 11Th May. We would really appreciate your input to this work.
SEND Reforms Local Plan and Experts at Hands Survey