With a schools white paper expected within weeks, leaks to national newspapers offer only a piecemeal glimpse at what might happen with SEND reform. Much of the national debate has focused on what will happen with education, health and care plans (EHCPs), which set out pupils鈥 legal rights to support. But in the background, council and health officials have been quietly instructed to start the wheels in motion now for a reformed system鈥 鈥榃e must begin this work now鈥 Ten days before Christmas, the Department for Education (DfE) and the NHS England wrote to council and health officials asking them to start work on a 鈥渓ocal SEND reform plan鈥. These plans will reflect five principles for the special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) system already announced by education secretary Bridget Phillipson: early, local, fair, effective and shared. But councils were warned not to wait for the white paper, or further information on dealing with historic funding deficits, to get started. The letter, seen by Schools Week, came from Tim Coulson, director of the DfE鈥檚 regions group and Amanda Doyle, the NHS鈥檚 SEND lead. It told officials to start assessing their current plans, to 鈥渆nsure they are realising best outcomes and value for young people鈥. 鈥淪ystem-wide change will take time, and our children and young people only get one chance. We must therefore begin this essential work now and your leadership and partnership is critical to this.鈥 Coulson and Doyle warned it was 鈥渃rucial鈥 areas agreed 鈥渒ey actions that you will take now to prepare your system for change鈥. It was also 鈥渃rucial you are working with education providers鈥 to ensure 鈥測our offer is high quality鈥. It鈥檚 not clear whether schools nationwide have yet been alerted. But Coulson and Doyle said full 鈥渆xpectations of these plans鈥 will be published alongside the white paper. The letters revealed some detail, though. Areas will be asked for 鈥渕ore regular data submissions, focused on the key indicators of improvement鈥. There is little further information on these indicators, but they will 鈥渇orm a vital foundation for implementing SEND reforms in a way that reflects the unique contexts of local areas and is underpinned by data and evidence鈥. SEND and financial advisers will visit councils and share 鈥減riority metrics鈥 recommended to 鈥渂aseline performance鈥. Cllr Alex Dale, chair of council funding campaign group f40, said the plans seem “reasonable” but it must be supported with “greater clarity around policy, expected level of ordinary support and accountability”. It must also be “backed with sufficient funding”. New tools to evaluate provision In the meantime, the DfE and NHS have provided a 鈥渓ocal partnership maturity assessment tool鈥 for councils and health bodies to evaluate current provision. One council official told Schools Week some authorities already had detailed self-evaluation processes, but that this push was about DfE trying to create consistency. In its guidance for the tool, the government said: 鈥淲e believe that having a consistent, shared framework with common language will support a national conversation in a complex system.鈥 The i newspaper The government鈥檚 tool sets out seven key 鈥減illars鈥 that will underpin reform. Local areas will be asked to rate themselves across four measures: not yet emerging, emerging, developing and maturing. Labels offer glimpse at tiers plan Pillar four focuses the most on schools. This looks at 鈥渉igh quality service delivery at universal, targeted and specialist鈥 levels to promote inclusion. It is these three labels 鈥 universal, targeted and specialist 鈥 that will form the 鈥渢iers鈥 mentioned in national reports, a source told Schools Week. The 鈥渢argeted鈥 tier will also include an option for schools to receive specialist external support. Currently there are two categories of pupils with SEND: those receiving SEN support, and those with statutory education, health and care plans (EHCPs). These were created in 2014, replacing three old categories: school action, school action plus and statements. An insider said the 鈥渢argeted鈥 support could look like the old 鈥渟chool action plus鈥, an enhanced level of support where schools bring in specialist external help. Stephen Kingdom, the DfE鈥檚 deputy director of SEND in 2014, said the last reforms mainly reflected problems with the 鈥渟chool action鈥 tier. There had been concern it was 鈥渢oo easy for schools just to label a child as SEN as a kind of excuse for failure鈥. 鈥淧ossibly we did lose something because there was a clear expectation of support from external organisations.鈥 More EHCPs in mainstream schools Under plans put forward to councils, practice deemed 鈥渕aturing鈥 under the pillar most closely related to schools includes seeing a 鈥渉igh percentage of EHCPs in mainstream鈥. 鈥淨uality-first teaching鈥 in mainstream schools, combined with 鈥渆vidence-based SEN support and early engagement with parents, is helping to build knowledge and confidence in mainstream schools and SEN provision,鈥 documents state. This would lead to fewer EHCPs, they add. In 鈥渕aturing鈥 practice, schools 鈥渦se all available resources across education and health to build capacity and have embedded specialist support within their systems at a whole-school level鈥. Margaret Mulholland, SEND and inclusion specialist at school leaders鈥 union ASCL, said the local SEND reform plans were 鈥渞easonable鈥 and many members would 鈥渨elcome further opportunities to work locally in this way鈥. 鈥淗owever, we really need to see the full detail of the white paper to understand how realistic these new expectations are. 鈥淚f schools are to play a key role in delivering local provision, as has been suggested, then they clearly have to be resourced accordingly.鈥 The specialist capacity challenge The new model will require having enough specialist staff. The DfE and NHS have told councils to 鈥渂uild a shared understanding of local workforce capacity and development needs across partners鈥. Edward Timpson, the Conservative children鈥檚 minister who led the 2014 overhaul, reflected previously how he 鈥渨ished we had done more capacity building in the system before legislation鈥. Several government-funded SEND intervention programmes have been piloted around schools, such as Early Language Support for Every Child (ELSEC) to address speech, language and communication needs through early intervention and 鈥渋nnovative workforce models鈥. An evaluation last week found recruitment and retention of support workers 鈥渞emain challenging鈥, despite 鈥渟ignificant progress鈥. ELSEC鈥檚 future beyond April is unclear, but Coulson and Doyle said they would 鈥渃ontinue to support learning from partnership projects such as ELSEC鈥. The toolkit suggests EHCPs wil survive, but it鈥檚 clear the system will eventually feature fewer. A Teacher Tapp poll commissioned by the Social Market Foundation this week found 58 per cent of teachers wanted EHCPs reduced and money shifted elsewhere. Standardised EHCPs here to stay The Conservatives launched a 鈥渃hange programme鈥 in 32 council areas to test its own SEND reforms several years ago. A council official involved told Schools Week Tory reforms were 鈥渢inkering around the edges鈥 of a broken system. But a pilot of a standardised EHCP template had worked well, they said. It is understood these are likely to be continued. The standardised template removed variation between councils鈥 EHCP documents and made it easier when children moved between council areas, the official said. 鈥淚t was probably one of only a few parts of the first phase where something beneficial came out. But it鈥檚 not going to correct problems with the system.鈥 An evaluation of the programme last week found these made the process 鈥渓ess overwhelming鈥 for parents and 鈥渁ided consistent decision-making鈥. Another success showing 鈥減ositive early impact鈥 was the use of alternative provision specialist taskforces. This involved basing teams of experts, like therapists and family support workers, in schools, working directly with youngsters. In several areas they 鈥渉ave played a key role in supporting reintegration from AP back into mainstream settings and preventing escalation into exclusion鈥. In 2024, the programme was re-nosed with more focus on inclusive mainstream practice. The programme will continue until the end of the academic year, and a final evaluation will follow. As Schools Week revealed, councils were asked to test a new 鈥渓ocal inclusion support offer鈥 to 鈥渂ridge the gap鈥 between mainstream schools and the SEND system. It鈥檚 not clear how this will marry up with the local SEND reform plan.
Alison Potter 7 February 2026 SEND is really difficult for schools to implement. The pressure is on private tuition companies for parents who can afford to pay 拢2000 a year.