{"id":82326,"date":"2026-02-23T17:16:04","date_gmt":"2026-02-23T17:16:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sense.org.uk\/?page_id=82326"},"modified":"2026-04-02T10:35:43","modified_gmt":"2026-04-02T09:35:43","slug":"sense-responds-to-governments-schools-white-paper","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sense.org.uk\/press-releases\/send\/sense-responds-to-governments-schools-white-paper\/","title":{"rendered":"Sense responds to government’s proposed reforms to the SEND system"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

23<\/strong>\u00a0February 2026\u00a0<\/strong>\u2013 National disability charity says reform is urgently needed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Responding to today’s White Paper,<\/strong> James Watson-O\u2019Neill, Chief Executive of the national disability charity Sense, said:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cToday\u2019s announcement shows a real commitment from the government to fix the broken SEND system \u2013 which currently leaves far too many families fighting for the support their children need.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe welcome both the additional investment and the ambition. Earlier intervention, closer collaboration across education, health, and care, and the proposed \u2018Experts at Hand\u2019 initiative could make a huge difference for disabled children with complex needs \u2013 but these commitments must be backed by a credible workforce plan to ensure real, additional capacity is delivered in schools and early years settings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe government has promised that all children with SEND will receive a legally backed plan \u2013 and Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCPs) will be retained as well as the tribunal. This is a victory for the families and organisations who have campaigned on this issue over the past year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe government\u2019s commitment to expanding legal entitlements through new Individual Support Plans (ISPs) is a positive step. If implemented effectively, this could shift the system towards more local and consistent support for children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe are also pleased that EHCPs will be maintained and enhanced for children with complex needs. However, without clear detail on how \u201ccomplex needs\u201d will be defined in practice, many families will understandably fear that their child could fall through the cracks. The government must provide firm reassurance that any child whose needs cannot be fully met through a school\u2019s Individual Support Plan will continue to have access to an EHCP, ensuring that essential, legally enforceable support remains in place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEarly intervention must remain central, specialist schools must continue to play an integral role, and families must retain real choice. Sense will support families throughout the 12-week consultation to ensure their voices are heard, and we remain committed to working constructively with the government to make sure these reforms truly deliver for disabled children and their families.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n

Contact Sense’s media team<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

For more information, please get in touch with the Sense media team on mediaenquiries@sense.org.uk<\/a> or call 0203 833 0611.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n<\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

23\u00a0February 2026\u00a0\u2013 National disability charity Sense will support families to make sure their voices are heard during the consultation process<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":352,"featured_media":80978,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_searchwp_excluded":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1399],"tags":[],"display_author":[],"class_list":["post-82326","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-send"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sense.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82326","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sense.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sense.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sense.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/352"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sense.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=82326"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.sense.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82326\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sense.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/80978"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sense.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=82326"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sense.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=82326"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sense.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=82326"},{"taxonomy":"display_author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sense.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/display_author?post=82326"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}