The schools white paper & SEND reforms

NB. The publication of a white paper does not change existing SEND law. Your child’s legal rights to support remain in place.

Information provided by Contact - for families with disabled children.

What is the schools white paper?

The government published its school’s white paper “Every Child Achieving and Thriving”, on Monday 23 February 2026.

This paper sets out proposals to reform the special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) system in England. Watch Contact's short video explaining what a white paper is.

Now published, there will be a 12-week consultation. Families, charities and professionals can respond and influence what happens next. Only after consultation would any proposed changes move into draft legislation. That legislation would need to go through Parliament.

During this time, existing SEND law remains unchanged. If you are told that support has changed because of the white paper, this is not correct.

What’s in the schools white paper?

Here’s an overview of the main SEND reforms proposed in the schools white paper.

Individual Support Plans

Schools, nurseries and colleges will have a new legal duty to produce an Individual Support Plan (ISP) for every child with a special educational need.  

This means: 

• There is a clear legal duty for settings to make a plan and record and monitor the support provided.
• As far as we can tell, there is no proposed legal duty for settings to deliver the support in an ISP.
• Each ISP must be reviewed annually.
• Every child with SEND would have a digital plan of support, written by the school.
• Parents should be involved in producing the ISP.

If the ISP is not working to meet need or not being delivered, parents can go through the school’s complaints process and then an independent panel for redress.

Targeted and Specialist layers of support

Schools will provide support to children with ISPs at two layers: Targeted (including Targeted Plus) and Specialist.

Targeted and Targeted Plus support will replace the current SEN support for children without education, health and care (EHC) plans.

Targeted support provides structured support within mainstream settings, including small-group work or personalised materials. This is predominantly in the classroom, but where appropriate in the school’s Inclusion Base.  

Targeted Plus provides better access to specialists like education psychologists and speech and language therapists through the government’s new Experts at Hand services. It may also include accessing Inclusion Bases within mainstream settings.

Specialist support is a higher level of help that will take the form of Specialist Provision Packages (SSPs).

EHC plans

Only children who have SSPs will have EHC plans. The white paper says that SSPs will provide comprehensive, evidence-based packages of support for children and young people with the most complex needs.

However, there is no definition of complex needs in the white paper. We don’t know which children and young people will be eligible for SSPs and EHC plans. There is a concern that the threshold for getting an EHC plan could become higher, and this has understandably caused concern among parents.

Choosing a setting

The white paper says local authorities must provide a list of settings that can deliver the appropriate Specialist Provision Package when a family is choosing a school place for a child with an EHC plan. Parents will retain the right to request an alternative setting. But local authorities can now turn this down based on cost.

Under the proposals, the Tribunal will no longer have the power to name a school. It will only be able to request the local authority to reassess.

Access to specialists, training and transparency 

The White paper sets out: 

• That each local area will have better access to specialists, including speech and language, occupational and physiotherapists, under the government’s Experts at Hand service. Schools can tap into those resources when needed.
• A new national training programme for teachers to help build more inclusive culture and classrooms in mainstream schools.
• More published information about SEND Tribunal outcomes, so families can see how local authorities are performing.
• A realistic timeframe – we welcome the commitment to build capacity for inclusion in mainstream schools before legal changes are introduced.
• A fast-track assessment process for under-fives with very complex needs. 

Appeals and challenges

Under the proposals: 

• The SEND Tribunal may have reduced powers.
• Parents may no longer be able to name a specific school.
• Annual EHC plan reviews could be replaced with less frequent reviews. 

When will the changes happen?

The government has said that no child will lose effective support already in place:

• Every child with a special school place in 2029 will keep it if they want it until they finish education.
• Children with EHC plans in mainstream schools will not be moved to ISPs until at least 2030. And this will only happen when moving between school stages (for example, primary to secondary).
• Transition for children with an EHC plan in mainstream settings who will best supported in the future via an ISP, rather than an EHC plan, will only begin from 2030 once the new inclusive mainstream system has been fully built. This will only happen as children naturally move between phases, like from primary to secondary
• ISPs will be in place for children transitioning from an EHC plan before they move to the new system. This will mean there is no break in support.

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