The School’s White Paper including details of the proposed SEND Reforms has now been published.
The Schools White Paper is a wide-ranging document looking at several aspects of education – you can read the full document here.
More information about the SEND Reforms can be found in the consultation document SEND Reforms – Putting Children and Young People First
A series of Information and fact sheets about the SEND Reforms are available here
These highlights the following key points;
- Improved mainstream provision and early intervention, providing better outcomes for all children and young people
- This will include 3 layers of support; Targeted, Targeted Plus and Specialist. Your child can receive support from any layer of support at any time during their education
- A legal requirement for all education establishments to create Individual Support Plans for children and young people with SEND. Schools (including maintained nursery schools and school-based nurseries) and colleges will have a legal duty to develop Individual Support Plans, with parents and carers
- Every secondary school will have an inclusion base, with inclusion bases in the same number of primary schools
- For children with needs beyond mainstream provision there will be new Specialist Provision Packages
- EHCP’s will be retained and improved and will be the delivery mechanism for Specialist Provision Packages. Children with an EHCP may have a place in a mainstream or specialist setting. EHCP’s will be digitised and standardised across the country.
- For children and young people with an existing EHCP, transition to the new system will begin from 2030, once the new inclusive mainstream system has been fully built.
- There will be an increase in specialist and alternative provision placements
- Those will EHCP’s will retain individual rights to the agreed support. The legal obligation to provide Individual Support Plans will be on schools and colleges
- School-based SEND complaints will be heard by a panel with an independent SEND expert. Tribunals will remain for EHCPs
- Ofsted inspections will have a increased focus on how well all settings support SEND pupils
- Schools will be legally required to publish an Inclusion Strategy showing how resources are used to support children with SEND
- There will be improved communication across the SEND system with families, education settings and professionals having a shared understanding of children’s needs, what support looks like, when it will be delivered, and how it will work across all phases of education. Individual Support Plans will be produced digitally making it easier to share information across the system and with families.
- The SEND Code of Practice will be updated to clarify the responsibilities of education settings and local partners, as well as making the guidance easier to use and navigate and the Children’s Commissioner will provide oversight and scrutiny of SEND reform implementation. The 4 areas of need currently used with be changed to new areas of development: Executive Function; Motor and Physical; Sensory; Speech, Language and Communication; Social and Emotional
- There will be increased access to specialist support for schools and colleges through a new Experts at Hand offer – with funding to increase the number of specialist advice givers such as Educational Psychologists and Speech and Language Therapists and to support outreach from specialist settings.
- Home – school partnerships to be strengthened through the establishment of minimum expectations / standards
- Improved SEND training for teachers and school leaders will be developed and there will be a focus on staff wellbeing and excellence in leadership in schools and colleges
The consultation on the SEND Reforms is now open and running until 18th May 2026. You can read more about the consultation and how to share your views here
The SEND Reforms – Putting Children and Young people First is a large document and we understand it might feel overwhelming and difficult to unpick. PACC will be reading it in greater detail over the next week and then will gather your feedback one section at a time, to support your understanding and engagement. You can also choose to respond to just some of the questions asked in the consultation and leave others unanswered. If you have any specific questions about the consultation, please do contact us directly or comment on our social media.
Overall PACC feels a sense of relief about the SEND Reforms, while there are still questions to be asked about some of the proposals, especially around accountability, personalisation and funding the concerns about immediate change has been recognised. The phased introduction and the focus on building a new system before individual support is changed is welcomed. As always, the real test will be the implementation of these proposals and ensuring the ongoing commitment to getting things right for the SEND community.