SEND reforms: your questions answered

The Government has announced plans to reform the Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) system in England. These proposals will be backed by £4 billion of funding and are open to feedback from the public.

In this video, Jen Giles, who works in our children and young people’s team, answers some of your questions about what these plans could mean for disabled children with complex needs.

Visual description of video

A woman with brown wavy hair looks directly to camera as she talks. She is in a large, bright room with lots of windows. Behind her we see a row of red chairs in the distance and wooden furniture.

Hi, I’m Jen and I work at Sense in the Children and Young People’ Service and I’m here to answer questions from you about the new SEND reforms.

What is in the SEND or special educational needs and disabilities reforms and what does that mean for my son who has complex needs?

Well, the government has announced new plans to support disabled children with complex needs.

The plans include things like more professionals to support your child, fast track support for under fives and a new plan called Individual Support Plan for every child with scent.

Will the SEND reforms mean the education, health and social care systems work Better Together?

So the government says it wants this to happen. It’s updating the SEND Code of practise to explain exactly what local authorities and their partners should do, but right now there isn’t enough detail about how that will work.

At Sense, we want more accountability so that disabled children don’t miss out on support.

If the SEND tribunal is changing, what happens when schools and local authorities don’t follow the law?

If your child has an EHCP, which stands for Education, Health and Care Plan, and is in the specialist tier of support, you can still go to a SEND tribunal to challenge decisions.

If they don’t have an EHCP, you can raise your concerns via your school’s complaints process.

Lots of parents are worried about changes to the role of the Sen Tribunal and we’ve raised this with government and will keep pushing on it.

When will the reforms come into effect?

Nothing will change until 2029 and your child support will stay the same until then.

The consultation closes on May the 18th and after that the government will review responses and decide on what goes into the SEND Bill.

The bill then goes through Parliament before it becomes a law.

If it passes, the changes will start from September 2029.

Are parents going to be involved and listened to as part of consultations?

Yes, the government is asking for feedback on these changes.

You can share your thoughts on their website.

We’ve also made a simple online tool to help you share your views.

You can find it on our website, alongside more info about the reforms, our thoughts and how you can get involved.

What’s in the SEND reforms and what does that mean for my son, who has complex needs?

The first thing to say is that, at the moment, these are only proposals and nothing will be changing right now. I’ll talk more about timelines a little later in this blog.

The Government’s proposals include things like:

• A new programme called Experts at Hand. This would see mainstream schools having access to more specialists like speech and language therapists.
• More early intervention and support for disabled children with complex needs under 5.
• Every child with SEND having a tailored plan of support called an Individual Support Plan (ISP). This would be a digital record of the support your child could expect to receive and how it will be delivered.

At Sense, we want to ensure that vital roles like multisensory impairment (MSI) teachers are included as part of the Experts at Hand programme. We also need to make sure that there will be enough MSI teachers for the children who need them. We’re raising this with the Government.

Although every child with SEND will have an ISP, only disabled children with complex needs, who are accessing the specialist tier of support, would receive an EHCP alongside this.

Our website sets out more detail of the key proposals if you want to find out more.

Will the SEND reforms mean that education, health and children’s social care services work better together?

The Government has said it wants education, health and social care services to work better together. This is something we’d support.

We often hear from parents that services designed to support their children don’t work together as they should. This disconnect between services can lead to unlawful practice, with local authorities failing to provide the care disabled children with complex needs are entitled to.

The Government will set out how local authorities and their partners such as schools and health services should work together. Right now there isn’t enough detail about how that will work.

At Sense, we want there to be more accountability measures for health and social care providers, so that disabled children don’t miss out on the support they need at school.

If the SEND tribunal is changing, what happens when schools and local authorities don’t follow the law?

If your child has an EHCP and is in the specialist tier of support, you’ll still be able to go to a SEND tribunal to challenge decisions about support. If your child doesn’t have an EHCP, you can raise concerns with your child’s school via their complaints process.

We know how important the SEND tribunal is to make sure that disabled children with complex needs can access the support they need. We’ve heard from a lot of parents who’re worried about the changes to the SEND tribunal, and we’re sharing these concerns directly with the Government.

It’s vital that parents can challenge decisions when their child isn’t able to access the support they need at school and we’ll keep pushing hard on this.

How will parents be involved and listened to as part of the consultations?

There are a few ways you can get involved and tell the Government what you think about these proposals. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity to shape the future of SEND provision in England. We’re urging as many parents as possible to get involved by 18th May.

• We’ve created a simple tool for families to share their views with the Government. Our tool focuses on the questions from the consultation that are most relevant to you.
• You can also respond to the consultation through the Government’s own website consultation.
• The Government is also hosting online events outlining their proposals. You can find out more about those and sign up here.

Need a bit more info before having your say? You can read more about the changes and what Sense thinks about them here.

When will the reforms come into effect?

We know that this can be an unsettling time for families but it’s really important to remember that nothing is going to change until 2029. Until then, your child’s support won’t change.

The consultation closes on 18th May. The Government will then review and analyse the responses before making final decisions. These outcomes will then form the SEND bill.  A ‘bill’ is a proposal for a new law, or changes to an existing law.

Before they become law, MPs and Lords will have the opportunity to debate and suggest changes to the Government’s SEND proposals.  We’re currently speaking to MPs about what we think, and will keep doing so until the consultations close.

After the bill has been debated in Parliament it would become law – and if the law passes, changes will kick in from 2029.

We’ll keep you updated through our social media channels and our website about where we are in the process and what comes next.