The government has set out sweeping reforms aimed at ending the “one size fits all” education system for children with special educational needs and disabilities, introducing a new legal requirement for individual support plans for every child with SEND in England.
The measures form part of the forthcoming schools white paper, Every Child Achieving and Thriving, which outlines a decade-long mission to create a more inclusive education system and improve outcomes for children and families.
Currently, more than 70% of children with additional needs – over one million pupils – have no legally enforceable rights attached to their support. ISPs will extend rights and protections to all such children for the first time.
Under the reforms every child with SEND will receive an individual support plan (ISP), ISPs will be based on a national framework of high‑quality interventions, teachers and specialists will personalise each plan according to the child’s needs, whilst support detailed in the ISP will be easy to access, backed by multi‑billion‑pound investment in speech and language therapy and small‑group teaching.
The government says this will end the long‑standing issue of families having to “fight” for basic support.
Education, health, and care plans will remain in place for children requiring more intensive or complex support. EHCPs will offer legal entitlements beyond those provided by ISPs.
A “triple lock” of transitional protections means no child will lose support already in place. This includes children in special schools in 2029, retaining their place until they finish education, no transitions from EHCP to ISP until 2030, and only when children naturally move between phases, such as primary to secondary, and ISPs created before any transition to avoid gaps in support.
The SEND Tribunal will remain the legal backstop, with parents able to appeal assessments, support packages and school placements.
The reforms will introduce several system‑wide improvements, including:
- Digitised EHCPs and ISPs to reduce bureaucracy and improve transparency
- Updated school complaints processes, adding an independent SEND expert
- Legal entitlement to specialist provision based on clearly defined clinical‑style pathways
- Publication of draft specialist support packages later this year, co‑designed with experts and parents
- Regulation of independent special schools to ensure consistent quality and fair pricing
Children with EHCPs will also have an ISP showing how their specialist support package will be delivered in school, day‑to‑day.
Bridget Phillipson, Education Secretary, said:
“I believe – and this government believes – that background shouldn’t mean destiny. How a child grows up shouldn’t dictate where they end up.
“The SEND system, designed 10 years ago for a small number of children, is now broken. Parents end up fighting tooth and nail for entitlements on paper that don’t see them getting additional support. Children’s education and lives have suffered.
“Today’s plans will take children with SEND from sidelined and excluded to seen, heard and included. Every child will get the brilliant support they deserve, when they need it, as routine and without a fight.”
The reforms sit alongside major investment aimed at strengthening inclusion across the education system:
- £200 million to train teachers and support staff in evidence-based SEND practice
- £1.6 billion Inclusion Grant for interventions such as small‑group speech and language support
- Creation of more than 60,000 specialist places backed by £3.7 billion, supporting inclusion bases in every secondary school
- A national Experts at Hand programme with £1.8 billion to expand access to educational psychologists and specialist support
Families will be able to choose the school they move to when transitioning from an EHCP to an ISP.
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