SEND Reforms - What You Need To Know
9 September 2026 · 12 min read
SEND Reforms 2026: What Parents and Carers Need to Know
If you are the parent or carer of a child with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), you may have seen some worrying headlines about changes to the SEND system in England.
Are EHCPs being scrapped? Will children lose support? What are Individual Support Plans? And what will happen to children who need specialist provision?
These are understandable questions because the Government has proposed some of the biggest changes to the SEND system in years.
But there's one particularly important point to understand from the outset:
The SEND system has not suddenly changed in 2026, and existing Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCPs) have not been abolished.
The Government's main SEND reform consultation closed on 18 May 2026, and it is currently considering the responses. The proposed reforms form part of a much longer programme of change, with new legislation not expected to take effect until September 2029.
Until then, the current SEND system, including its existing legal duties, rights and funding arrangements, remains in place.
So, what exactly is being proposed - and what could it mean for families?
Why is the SEND system changing?
The short answer is that the current system is struggling.
The number of children identified as having special educational needs has risen considerably, while families frequently report difficulties obtaining appropriate support.
Government figures for the 2025/26 academic year show that:
- 538,547 pupils in England have an EHC plan
- That represents 6% of all pupils
- The number of pupils with an EHC plan increased by 11.6% in just one year
- 14.8% of pupils receive SEN Support
- The number of pupils with EHC plans has more than doubled since 2016
- The number receiving SEN Support has increased by 33% since 2016
Meanwhile, the overall pupil population increased by only 4.2% over the same period.
In other words, the increase in identified SEND cannot simply be explained by there being more children in schools.
There is another important statistic behind the reforms.
More than 70% of children with additional needs — over one million children — currently do not have an EHCP, according to the Government.
That matters because an EHCP carries statutory protections, while ordinary SEN Support does not provide the same individually enforceable entitlement.
The Government's argument is that families should not have to fight for an EHCP simply to get effective support.
Its proposed solution is to strengthen what mainstream schools are expected to provide before a child reaches the point of requiring the highest level of statutory support.
What is actually changing?
The proposed system would introduce several different levels of SEND support.
Think of it less as replacing one document with another and more as redesigning the structure through which SEND support is delivered.
1. A stronger "Universal Offer"
At the foundation would be a new Universal Offer.
The intention is for mainstream schools and other settings to become better equipped to support a wider range of needs as part of everyday education.
This could include things such as:
- high-quality adaptive teaching
- calmer and more inclusive environments
- earlier identification of additional needs
- better-trained staff
- accessible learning environments
- support before difficulties escalate.
The principle is straightforward: a child should not have to reach crisis point before somebody helps them.
For many parents and carers, that will sound very familiar.
2. Individual Support Plans (ISPs)
One of the biggest proposed changes is the introduction of Individual Support Plans, or ISPs.
Under the Government's proposals, every child identified as having SEND would have an Individual Support Plan.
The ISP would record the support the child should receive and would be developed with the involvement of the child or young person, their parents or carers and their school or setting.
For example, an ISP might record support relating to communication, sensory needs, learning, emotional regulation or other aspects of a child's education.
This could be a significant change for children currently receiving SEN Support.
At present, more than one million children with additional needs do not have the legally enforceable rights associated with an EHCP. A consistent national expectation around individual planning could therefore make support clearer and more transparent.
However, there is an important concern.
An ISP is not currently proposed to have the same legal enforceability as an EHCP.
That distinction is at the centre of much of the debate around the reforms.
3. "Experts at Hand"
Another major proposal is called Experts at Hand.
The Government plans to invest £1.8 billion over three years in this programme.
The idea is to give schools and children quicker access to specialist professionals and interventions rather than requiring families to navigate long waits before specialist help becomes available.
This could involve professionals such as educational psychologists and speech and language specialists working alongside schools.
The Government calls the more intensive level involving specialist input Targeted Plus support.
This has the potential to be one of the more positive aspects of the reforms.
Parents regularly experience a frustrating cycle in which a school recognises that a child needs specialist input but cannot easily access it. Meanwhile, the child's difficulties can become increasingly serious while everybody waits.
If specialist expertise genuinely becomes easier and quicker to access, earlier intervention could prevent some children reaching crisis.
The important question will be whether sufficient professionals are actually available to deliver it.
4. EHCPs are not simply being abolished
This is probably the biggest misconception surrounding SEND reform.
EHCPs are not being abolished altogether under the current proposals.
They would remain for children and young people whose needs require a level of specialist provision beyond what can routinely be provided through mainstream support.
However, the future role of EHCPs would change.
Under the proposed system, EHCPs would be linked to something called a Specialist Provision Package.
These packages are intended to describe specialist support for different types and combinations of complex needs.
Importantly, a child could potentially have a Specialist Provision Package and associated EHCP in either a mainstream or specialist setting.
The Government has also acknowledged that children may have complex and overlapping needs and may therefore require elements from more than one package.
What are Specialist Provision Packages?
The Government has published draft examples covering areas including profound and multiple learning difficulties, communication needs and different forms of highly adapted education and support.
For example, a package for a child with profound and multiple learning difficulties could include highly individualised learning alongside support with communication, physical development, nutrition and personal care.
The intention is partly to reduce the variation between different areas of England.
At present, families can have very different experiences depending on where they live.
Creating clearer national expectations could therefore help tackle what is often described as the SEND postcode lottery.
However, critics are concerned that standardised packages could become restrictive if they are used instead of assessing what an individual child actually needs.
Children do not always fit neatly into categories.
A standard framework may create greater consistency, but it must still be flexible enough to recognise that two children with the same diagnosis can require completely different support.
Will children who already have EHCPs lose them?
Not immediately.
This is another area where headlines can be misleading.
The Government says the transition would happen gradually.
Under the proposals, a child or young person with an EHCP in a mainstream setting when the new legislation begins would retain their EHCP and associated provision until they finish their current phase of education — for example primary, secondary or post-16 education — unless they choose to move to the new system earlier.
At the transition point, their needs would then be assessed under the new system.
If they required a Specialist Provision Package, they would continue to have an EHCP.
If their needs could instead be met through the mainstream system, their support could move to an Individual Support Plan alongside the Universal, Targeted and specialist support available through the new system.
The Government has also stated that no child or young person will be required to leave a special school or college placement because of these reforms unless they choose to do so.
For families with an existing EHCP, therefore, nothing suddenly disappears because the reforms have been announced.
Existing legal rights continue to apply.
More specialist provision within mainstream schools
Another major part of the reforms is an attempt to make mainstream schools more inclusive.
The Government has announced at least £3 billion between 2026/27 and 2029/30 for new special school places and tens of thousands of places in new Inclusion Bases.
This follows £740 million previously committed in 2025 for specialist places in mainstream schools.
Inclusion Bases are intended to provide dedicated spaces within mainstream settings where children can receive targeted teaching and specialist support while remaining part of their local school community where appropriate.
The longer-term ambition is for every secondary school to have an inclusion base.
There is also a new £1.6 billion Inclusive Mainstream Fund over three years.
The principle behind this is significant.
Rather than asking:
"Can this child cope with mainstream school?"
the aim should increasingly be to ask:
"What needs to change within this school so this child can participate?"
That represents an important shift in thinking — provided schools receive the staffing, expertise, facilities and funding necessary to make it work.
Better SEND training for teachers
The reforms also include investment in SEND training.
The Government has committed £200 million to SEND training as part of its wider programme.
This is important because inclusion isn't simply about putting children with additional needs into mainstream classrooms.
Teachers and support staff need the knowledge, time and resources to understand those needs.
A child being physically present in a mainstream classroom does not automatically mean they are being included.
For autistic children, children with ADHD, speech and language needs, sensory differences, physical disabilities and other additional needs, relatively small changes to an environment or teaching approach can sometimes make an enormous difference.
But staff need to understand why those adjustments matter.
What are the potential benefits of the SEND reforms?
There are several aspects of the proposed system which could make a meaningful difference to families.
Earlier support
Perhaps the strongest principle behind the reforms is that children should receive help earlier.
Families should not have to wait until attendance collapses, behaviour escalates or a child's mental health deteriorates before additional support becomes available.
Less dependence on obtaining an EHCP
For some families, obtaining an EHCP can become an exhausting battle.
If mainstream schools genuinely have better resources, specialist expertise and clear responsibilities, fewer parents may feel that an EHCP is the only way to get somebody to listen.
Better access to specialists
The Experts at Hand programme could make professional expertise more readily available to schools.
If implemented effectively, this could mean problems are identified and addressed earlier.
More consistent support across England
National standards and clearer expectations could reduce the huge variation families currently experience between schools and local authorities.
Your postcode should not determine whether your child receives appropriate support.
Greater inclusion
More specialist provision within mainstream schools could allow children to remain part of their local communities while still accessing appropriate specialist support.
For some children and families, that could be transformative.
What are people concerned about?
There are also significant concerns, particularly around children's legal rights.
SEND legal advice charity IPSEA has warned that some proposals could weaken protections families currently rely upon.
Individual Support Plans may not be legally enforceable
This is arguably the biggest issue.
An EHCP is not simply a description of what would be nice for a child to receive.
Provision specified within an EHCP carries legal force.
If Individual Support Plans replace EHCPs for some children but do not carry equivalent enforceable rights, parents may have fewer options when promised support isn't actually delivered.
IPSEA has argued that children should not move from enforceable legal rights to what could effectively become unenforceable promises.
Who will qualify for an EHCP in future?
The Government intends EHCPs to remain for children requiring Specialist Provision Packages.
But this creates an obvious question:
Where exactly will the threshold sit?
Families will want reassurance that children with substantial but perhaps less easily categorised needs will not fall between the mainstream and specialist systems.
Standard packages versus individual children
National Specialist Provision Packages could improve consistency.
But SEND provision has traditionally been based on the individual needs of the child.
Critics are concerned that predetermined packages could restrict this individualisation.
The best version of this system would use packages as a minimum framework, while retaining the flexibility to specify everything an individual child actually requires.
Parental choice and appeals
There are also concerns about how the proposals could affect parents' ability to request particular schools and challenge decisions.
Access to the SEND Tribunal has historically been an important safeguard for families who disagree with decisions about their child's needs or provision.
Any changes that reduce access to independent challenge are therefore likely to receive considerable scrutiny.
A reform will only work if the support actually exists
This may ultimately be the most important point.
The language within the reforms - early intervention, inclusive mainstream education, specialist support and consistent national standards - is difficult to disagree with.
But a system cannot become inclusive through policy documents alone.
A school cannot provide speech and language therapy if there isn't a therapist available.
A teacher cannot provide intensive individual support to several children simultaneously without adequate staffing.
A sensory-friendly environment cannot simply be declared into existence.
And an Individual Support Plan is only valuable if the support written in it actually happens.
The success or failure of SEND reform will therefore depend heavily on funding, workforce capacity, accountability and implementation.
What should parents and carers do now?
The most important thing is not to assume your child's existing rights have disappeared.
They haven't.
The Government's main SEND reform consultation has finished, but the proposed new legal framework has not yet taken effect.
If your child currently needs an EHC needs assessment, an EHCP, SEN Support or provision contained within an existing EHCP, the current legal framework still applies.
Parents should therefore continue to pursue the support their child needs under the existing system rather than waiting for the reforms.
It is also worth keeping copies of assessments, school correspondence, professional reports, support plans and evidence showing what support your child needs and how effectively their current provision is working.
What happens next?
The SEND reforms are a long-term programme rather than an overnight change.
The Government's main consultation closed in May 2026 and it is considering the responses.
Further legislation will be required before many of the fundamental changes can happen, with the Government saying new legislation is not expected to commence until September 2029.
Some changes and investment, however, are already beginning.
Schools are being prepared for greater inclusion, new specialist provision is being developed, staff training is being funded and investment in programmes such as Experts at Hand is beginning ahead of the legislative changes.
There is also a separate 2026 consultation looking at children and young people who receive Education Otherwise Than At School (EOTAS), education because of health needs or certain forms of alternative and online provision.
So there is still a great deal to watch.
The bottom line
There are genuine reasons to reform England's SEND system.
Too many families currently have to fight for support. Too many children wait until they are struggling badly before appropriate help arrives. Too much depends on where a family happens to live.
The Government's emphasis on earlier intervention, better-trained staff, specialist expertise and more inclusive mainstream schools could address some of those problems.
But there is another side to the debate.
The legal protections associated with EHCPs exist for a reason. When systems fail, enforceable rights give families a mechanism to challenge that failure.
The challenge for SEND reform is therefore not simply to reduce demand for EHCPs.
It is to create a system in which fewer families need to fight for one in the first place, while preserving strong legal protection for children when the system fails to deliver what they need.
For parents and carers, the message for now is simple:
Your child's existing SEND rights have not disappeared.
The reforms are significant, but they are being introduced over several years. Families should continue using the current system and seeking the support their children are entitled to while keeping a close eye on what happens next.
At Buzzbo, we'll continue following the SEND reforms and explaining what changes mean for children, young people and families as further details are announced.
This article is intended as general information about SEND reform in England and should not be treated as individual legal advice.
