Government unveils long-awaited reforms for supporting children with Send

Thousands more specialist school places will be provided and staff training will be expanded to ensure children with special educational needs and disabilities (Send) can get the help that they need earlier.

The Department for Education (DfE) has published its long-awaited improvement plan to provide high-quality, early support to children with Send across England in a bid to end the postcode lottery.

As part of the plan, 33 new special free schools will be built which will provide thousands of additional specialist places for children with Send.

The DfE said £30 million will also go towards developing innovative approaches for short breaks for children, young people and their families, providing respite for families of children with complex needs.

The programme funds local areas to test new services including play, sports, arts and independent living activities, allowing parents time to themselves.

It comes after parents of disabled children have reportedly given up their jobs due to a lack of support.

Campaigners and leaders in the education sector warned that the Government’s plan “falls short” of the urgent reforms needed to address the “crisis” in support for children with Send and their families.

The DfE has said it will make sure the process for assessing children’s needs through Education Health and Care Plans (EHCPs), which help pupils to access support in school, is digital-first, quicker and simpler wherever possible.

There will also be new guides for professionals to help them provide the right support to children – and these will set out how to make adjustments to classrooms to help a child remain in mainstream education.

In March last year, the DfE published proposals for reforming Send and alternative provision (AP) in England as part of a green paper consultation.

The consultation, which was launched nearly a year ago, received around 6,000 responses – including from parents and carers of children with Send.

In response to the consultation, the DfE has said it will expand training for thousands of staff, including early years Send coordinators and educational psychologists, so children can get the help that they need earlier.

An apprenticeship for teachers of sensory impairments will also be developed by The Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education.

New national Send and AP standards will set out what support will be provided to families and who will provide and pay for it, the DfE said.

Claire Coutinho, minister for children, families and wellbeing, said: “Parents know that their children only get one shot at education and this can have an enormous impact on their child’s ability to get on with life.

“Yet for some parents of children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities, getting their child that superb education that everyone deserves can feel like a full-time job.

“The Improvement Plan that we are publishing today sets out systemic reforms to standards, teacher training and access to specialists as well as thousands of new places at specialist schools so that every child gets the help they need.”

Children’s Commissioner for England Dame Rachel de Souza said: “Children with Send and their families have, for too long, felt penalised by a system that doesn’t support their needs.

“I am particularly pleased to see this plan’s focus on early help, which will prevent families from reaching breaking point, and the increase in specialist school places so that many more children are able to attend a great school, every day.

“I have called for children’s voices to be at the heart of this plan, so I am encouraged by the move to make EHC Plans digital, standardised, and more focused on what each child wants.”

Stephen Kingdom, campaign manager for the Disabled Children’s Partnership, said: “Parents have been waiting years for the Government to fix the broken Send system, but the reaction of many to today’s plan will be “is that it?”.”

He said: “We are pleased to see a focus on workforce; and the plans to standardise EHCPs could be beneficial.

“But, overall, this plan falls short of the urgent access needed to address the crisis in support for children with Send and their families which has let down a generation of children.”

Margaret Mulholland, Send and inclusion specialist at the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL), said:  “The current system for supporting children with special educational needs is badly broken and critically underfunded.

“Children and young people are not receiving the help they need, and schools are left without the resources needed to best support them. Efforts to fix this crisis are very welcome.

She added: “We are yet to see anything to suggest the Government understands the gravity of the situation and the urgency with which they need to act.”

Jo Hutchinson, director for Send and additional needs at the Education Policy Institute (EPI), said: “These plans include some important incremental improvements but they fall short of being transformational.”

She added: “The Government must set out a detailed assessment of how many additional special school places are required, of what kinds and where, and how its pipeline of new special schools will meet that need.

“The focus on early help and mainstream inclusion in the national standards is welcome, but we await sight of the draft standards in order to assess these.”