The Evolving SEND Landscape

André Imich OBE, Former SEN and Disability Professional Adviser to the DfE, shares his thoughts on the aims and ambitions of the recently published White Paper – Every Child Achieving and Thriving.

Introduction

Across the education system, special educational needs and disability (SEND) remains one of the most pressing challenges facing leaders in schools, colleges, early years settings, health and social services, as well as for children, young people and their families. Reforms that were welcomed when introduced in 2014 have not led to the expected improvements in outcomes or experience, nor have significant increases in high needs funding over the past decade. In February 2026, the government published its blueprint for improvement in the form of a White Paper and a consultation document – SEND Reform: Putting Children and Young People First. The consultation closes on 18 May 2026; the following highlights some of the central proposals and issues arising.

Overall aim of the proposals

The reform aims to create a single, inclusive education system, where mainstream settings are equipped to meet a broader range of needs, and specialist provision is reserved for those with the most complex requirements. It is framed as a moral mission: “We cannot and must not accept that a proportion of each generation are simply being written off.” The consultation proposes a decade‑long programme of legislative, financial, and structural change, backed by significant investment and an amended legal framework. It emphasises early intervention, multi‑agency collaboration, and national standards based on evidence‑based practice.

In many ways, the proposals can be seen as developing further the changes introduced by the Children and Families Act in 2014. The core elements of that framework remain in place, including the statutory definition of SEN, the presumption for mainstream, co-production with parents, and statutory duties on statutory agencies to make available provision for those children and young people whose provision requirements cannot normally be provided.

Inclusive Mainstream Fund  – School Inclusion Strategy

There will be a new Inclusive Mainstream Fund worth £1.6 billion over three years, to help the early years, schools and colleges to provide early support, such as small-group language support and support staff who can identify commonly occurring needs and introduce adaptive teaching styles.

From this year, DfE is proposing to hold settings and trusts to account on the use of their inclusion funding. Schools will be required to proactively plan the support they provide through a new duty to produce and review annually an Inclusion Strategy, which will replace the current duty to produce SEN Information Reports. This Strategy will be expected to show how schools intend to use their funding to support inclusion.

This represents a powerful approach to improving accountability and reporting by schools, particularly in relation to the use of SEND funding, and mirrors the annual publication by schools about the effective use of pupil premium. The proposal would be further strengthened if there is also a duty for the Strategy to be co-produced and reviewed with parents.

Universal offer

A central pillar of the reform is a new universal offer, a baseline of support that all mainstream settings must provide, underpinned by National Inclusion Standards. This includes adaptive teaching; reasonable adjustments; early identification processes; access to trained staff; and evidence‑based interventions. There is a commitment to provide £200 million to a national SEND training programme for all staff across the 0–25 system.

References to reasonable adjustments under the Equality Act are greatly welcomed; for many children and young people with disabilities making these often small adjustments can significantly improve the school experience. However, too often schools are either unaware of their duty to make such adjustments or are reluctant to provide them due to concerns about creating wider precedents through agreeing to different treatment of the individual pupil.

Layers of Support: Targeted and Targeted Plus

On top of the Universal Offer, the reforms introduce two legally defined layers of support:

• Targeted Support – delivered within mainstream settings without the need for statutory assessment.
• Targeted Plus Support – a multi‑agency layer involving education, health, and care professionals.

Both layers will be recorded in a new Individual Support Plan (ISP)—a digital, evolving document created collaboratively with families. It is proposed that ISPs will be statutory, which will be welcomed by parents. The government will set out the information that the ISP must include, such as the child or young person’s identified barriers to learning, their provision, any reasonable adjustments, and intended outcomes, and clarify that this should be developed with parents.

Whilst the document is clear that ISPs will be digitised and standardised across settings to facilitate transitions, it does not explicitly state that there will be a single ISP format that all providers will be required to use. Without such central direction, there are likely to be the same issues that EHC plan formats have faced, such as variable quality, inconsistency, and lack of portability.

These proposals do provide the framework of a more graduated support system than is currently in place, with layers of support that are proactive, flexible, and legally guaranteed, and will enable improved strategic planning for schools. However, it does represent a new demand for schools, with potentially greater levels of bureaucracy.

Experts at Hand

A new national multi‑agency model, funded through a £1.8 billion investment over three years, aims to create an Experts at Hand model of support that will embed professionals such as educational psychologists, speech and language therapists and occupational therapists directly into mainstream settings. It will reduce waiting times, improve early intervention, and ensure that support is available where children learn, and can be accessed without a diagnosis.

Increased access to these specialists will be welcomed by settings and the investment in specialists on this scale could make a positive difference in mainstream. However, there is likely to be a challenge to ensure that there are sufficient professionals to provide the intended support within the timescale.

Colleges and Further Education

Reinforcing the message that the system remains in place for the 16-25 age group, there are improvement proposals for the further education sector, including access to the £1.6 billion inclusion funding, and to Experts at Hand. DfE is consulting on making it statutory for colleges to produce an ISP for young people with SEND.

To allow sufficient time to create bespoke learning packages, LAs and post-16 providers will be asked to plan for transition needs to begin at least 12 months in advance to allow time to create bespoke learning packages. It is not yet clear how this impacts on the current statutory duty to complete an amended EHC plan by 31 March in the calendar year of the transfer, or how health and social care services will be engaged in this planning process.

Specialist Provision Packages

For children with the most complex needs, the government is proposing Specialist Provision Packages – nationally defined, evidence‑based frameworks that will specify required interventions; therapies; curriculum adaptations; staffing ratios; and resources and equipment. These Packages are intended to form the basis of entitlement to future EHCPs and will be developed by an independent expert panel. These are currently under development and are likely to change.

Determination of whether a child meets the threshold for specialist provision and which Specialist Provision Package will be best suited for the child remains the responsibility of the LA, with “expert support”.

These packages are likely to be helpful in providing criteria that lead to more consistent and transparent decision-making around provision requirements and placements. However, there is also a risk that in developing these further, they evolve into a complicated, medically-based, diagnostic model that requires considerable professional assessment, and potentially expands areas for disagreement between decision-makers and families. It is also likely that, for some special schools, this will represent major transformation of their cohorts, a change process that may be challenging to implement.

EHC plan reform

Prior to publication of the documents, there had been concerns across the sector that EHC plans would be removed. Instead, the document heralds that there will be new, improved EHCPs that will guarantee statutory entitlements to the educational provision from the Specialist Provision Package that children and young people need.

There are proposed changes, however, including to how and when the final plan is produced. The new EHC plan will be developed with the setting, and in consultation with parents, after the Specialist Provision Package and placement decisions have been made by the LA, rather than beforehand, as happens now. They will include the educational offer based on the relevant Package, as well as health and care provision agreed during the assessment process. Another significant change is that the setting will have the legal duty to deliver the educational offer in an EHCP. Settings will be able to adapt provision, as necessary, and will be expected to review at least termly. Review duties on LAs will be reduced from annual to end of key stage.

These are complex proposals that will require considerable amendments to statutory processes. There are likely to be anxieties about resolving disagreements over provision requirements or the actual delivery of provision, particularly where the school does not agree with the LA’s Package decision.

Transition to the new system

The document sets out the many steps to be taken over the next few years. Transition for individual children and young people will be gradual, for example assessments under the new model will not begin until September 2029. There is, however, a risk that between now and September 2029, there will be a significant increase in the number of requests for new EHC plans and for placements in special schools. Should that happen, the system will quickly find itself under significant financial difficulty again and undermine preparations to introduce the new system.

Conclusion

The proposed reforms are ambitious and long‑term, aiming to transform the SEND landscape over a decade. Their success will depend on a range of interconnected factors which include sustained investment, cultural change, workforce development, strong multi‑agency collaboration, trust between families and services, and, at its heart, schools pulling together in the same direction. It relies on strong, consistent leadership across all services, with leaders subscribing to the government’s framing of these SEND reforms as a moral and societal imperative.

Ultimately, though, there remains a considerable amount of work to be done in a relatively short period of time. There will be disagreements and challenges along the way, but these proposals, in shifting the dial so that educational settings, and through them, children and young people, will have improved access to resources and specialist support, do get to the core of a more inclusive mainstream education system.

André Imich OBE, February 2026

Throughout his career, André has worked in a variety of roles focused on improving outcomes and experience for children and young people with SEN and developing inclusive practice. He has been a primary school teacher, a secondary teacher, an educational psychologist, a Principal EP, senior leader in a local authority, and a Senior Director for SEN in the National Strategies.

Between 2010 and 2024, André held the position of DfE SEN and Disability Professional Adviser for the Department for Education. This involved advising ministers as well as policy leads across DfE on all matters relating to SEN and disability. He worked closely with local authorities, parent carer groups, voluntary sector, health, and schools and colleges to achieve policy goals in relation to SEN and inclusion.

For the past year, André has been working independently on a range of projects, including with local authorities, MATs, the European Agency, and the Local Government Association.

Attend Westminster Insight’s SEND Reform Conference on Thursday 14th May, at the Cavendish Conference Centre in London, to hear André Imich OBE speak alongside an excellent line-up of speakers from organisations including National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT), National Association for Special Educational Needs (NASEN), National Association for Hospital Education, PRUsAP, National Network of Parent Carer Forums and DfE’s Neurodiversity Task and Finish Group.

View the full agenda and book your place.

References

Department for Education. (2026). Every child achieving and thriving: White paper.

Department for Education. (2026). SEND reform: putting children and young people first – consultation document.

UK Parliament. (2014). Children and Families Act 2014 (c. 6).

Department for Education. (2026). Specialist provision packages.