The biggest changes to England’s SEND system in over a decade are being decided right now, and will shape support for years to come.
This page brings together what’s happening, what the Disabled Children’s Partnership is pushing for, and what comes next.
What you need to know
- A new SEND law is expected within the next year, but these changes won’t come into force straight away.
- The public consultation has now closed. Those responses will help shape what goes into the law.
- Children who are taught in specialist settings by September 2029 are guaranteed to stay until they finish education.
- There will be no changes to Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCPs) before at least September 2030.
- The details of the eventual reform are still being finalised, so what happens next is not yet set.
- Disabled Children’s Partnership be campaigning to make sure the government gets these reforms right.
What DCP is working towards next
As the government moves from consultation to legislation, we’re focused on four areas where the proposals need to go further.
1
Maintaining and strengthening rights.
Existing rights must be protected and strengthened — and changes are needed so health and care are delivering what children and young people need at an individual level. The right mix of mainstream, inclusion bases and specialist provision must be in place so that every child and young person is supported in the setting that works best for them.
2
Making all schools and settings genuinely inclusive.
The government has proposed changes on how to make schools and other education settings more inclusive. These need legal backing, and there must be clear mechanisms to hold schools and other settings to account. Wider cultural change is also needed — so that nurseries, schools and colleges are genuinely set up with inclusion in mind.
3
Delivering on Individual Support Plans.
From September 2029, the government has proposed that all children with SEND will be entitled to an Individual Support Plan (ISP). For these to work, there needs to be a duty on schools and other settings to deliver what is in them. There also needs to be a strong process for redress when the right help isn’t being put in place.
4
Strengthening Health and social care.
Many children need wider support to access education and life outside of school. The NHS and children’s social care need to play their role fully in supporting children with SEND. Action is needed to ensure there are enough staff in health and care, and clear accountability to make sure children actually get the help they need from the NHS and social care.
20 JUly 2026
Ask your MP to SEND a letter to the new Prime Minister and Education Secretary
With a new Prime Minister in post, we need to ensure the SEND system reforms put disabled children, families and their rights at the heart of the agenda.
We have written directly to Andy Burnham to make this ask clear.
Now he’s officially in post with a new Education Secretary appointed, we need you to email your MP and invite them to champion disabled children and families.
10 JUly 2026
The EOTAS Consultation is now open
Today the Department for Education has launched a consultation on their plans for EOTAS (Education Otherwise than at School) packages, following strong feedback from us and many others.
When the Department launched its original SEND consultation in February the essential role EOTAS packages play for many young people was not recognised so we are encouraged to see that families are now being asked for their views.
Children and young people who cannot currently be educated in a school setting are some of the most vulnerable, medically complex and traumatised. We are pleased that the government has acknowledged this. However, the current proposals risk reducing legal rights rather than protecting them which could cause further damage.
It is now vital that the government listens carefully to the families currently accessing or considering EOTAS packages so that they get the proposals right.
As we gather a formal response from the Disabled Children’s Partnership, we encourage parent carers and young people to share their insights directly via the consultation to make sure their voices are heard. We also invite them to take part in our 3-question survey to ensure our response reflects their lived experiences and to help us engage other families to do the same.
We will continue to work to retain legal guarantees for disabled children.
Respond to the EOTAS consultation (deadline 18th September)
Take part in our survey (Deadline 31st August)
25 JUNE 2026
Response to the Government’s guidance on Inclusion Bases
Every child should have the opportunity to learn, make friends and feel part of their school community.
We have long called for greater support to help mainstream schools include disabled children and young people, so it is positive to see the Government taking steps in this direction. But inclusion is not about placing every child in the same setting. While many disabled children can thrive in mainstream schools with the right support, others will need specialist provision. The priority must be ensuring every child gets the right support, in the right place, at the right time.
The success of these reforms will depend on whether they deliver real improvements for disabled children and their families, including timely access to support, stronger accountability across education, health and social care services, and the strengthening of families’ legal rights to safeguard the support their children need.
Read the latest announcement about the guidance from the Department for Education
12 JUNE 2026
Response: Update on EOTAS packages
The SEND consultation earlier this year did not properly recognise children who are educated out of school. Young people and their families are clear that EOTAS packages (Education Otherwise than at School) can be the difference between learning and not, when school isn’t an option for them.
We are glad that the Department for Education have recognised this and have committed to a specific consultation on EOTAS packages, after the Disabled Children’s Partnership and others pushed for more work to be done. Find out more.
05 JUNE 2026
Response to the Government’s latest on SEND reforms
In the latest stage of its SEND reforms, the Government has today announced a new panel to advise on inclusion standards in all schools and what specialist support packages will look like for children and young people with more complex needs.
The breadth of expertise on the panel is encouraging and we are pleased to see the National Network of Parent Carer Forums has a seat at the table.
Government must also continue to engage with young people as well as parents to understand how policies will translate to their every day experiences of, and access to, school.
As the panel designs specialist support packages, members must focus on setting clear standards for nurseries, schools and colleges they must not be a replacement for bespoke support that meets the unique needs of disabled children and young people.
The new Experts At Hand funding could truly help mainstream schools to learn from the best specialists and become more inclusive. But only if this is matched with a huge increase in workforce.
The Government’s current plans for recruitment are inadequate. The new Secretary of State for Health and Social Care must urgently set out a workforce plan to deliver the SEND expertise that will make this good idea work in practice.
19 May 2026
Lords debate King’s Speech
Members of the House of Lords discussed the proposed SEND reforms during a debate on the King’s Speech. Of particular note, Labour peer Lord Touhig highlighted our concerns about how the new Individual Support Plans (ISPs) would work.
These plans would be legally recognised, school- or setting-based plans for children and young people with SEND who do not have an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP). DCP has welcomed the development of ISPs, but we want to ensure the legal framework is clear and robust enough for them to make a meaningful difference.
Lord Touhig asked the government how schools and settings would be held accountable for delivering the plans. He also called for greater clarity on who would qualify for an EHCP under the reformed system.
In other contributions, Conservative Baroness Browning called for greater clarity on how health services would support children with SEND in the future. Conservative peer and former Ofsted chief inspector Baroness Spielman expressed concern about the capacity of mainstream schools to deliver the transformation outlined in the proposals.
For the Liberal Democrats, Lord Mohammed and Lord Clement-Jones both raised concerns that the proposals could weaken parental rights.
19 May 2026
Read our Consultation Response →
We’ve submitted the DCP’s full response to the SEND consultation — putting children and young people first. There’s much to support in the government’s direction of travel, particularly the focus on more inclusive mainstream settings, Experts at Hand and statutory Individual Support Plans (ISPs). But we’ve also set out where the proposals need to go further to make sure reform strengthens rather than dilutes existing rights.
Key points from our submission
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The Inclusion Strategies that will be developed by all schools and settings must be co-produced and have clear accountability mechanisms.
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National Inclusion Standards must be developed with families and young people, applicable to all ages, legally enforceable, with a mechanism in place to make sure they can’t be quietly downgraded.
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ISPs only work if there is a legal duty on schools and settings to deliver what they say — not just produce them — backed by a swift, independent route for redress.
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No dilution of rights: EHCPs must remain fully legally binding with annual reviews, the Tribunal must keep its power to name a school, and the current threshold for an EHC Needs Assessment must stay.
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Government to review removing mental health, and cognition and learning, from the new ‘areas of development’ classifications.
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Health and care must play a full and equal role — backed by a joint DHSC/DfE workforce plan, joint commissioning duties, as well as accountability for delivering the support specified in an EHCP.
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Clear duties and support to be in place to ensure that local authorities and ICBs develop a local SEND plan and commissioning programme so that there is the right mix of provision locally.
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Action to be taken to secure cultural change across the system so that inclusion is fully embedded and not treated as an add-on.
18 May 2026
Consultation now closed
The government’s SEND consultation closed at 11:59pm tonight. Thank you to everyone who took the time to respond.
The reforms are far from settled. The government must now carefully review every submission — from families, young people, schools, councils, charities and professionals — and let what’s been said shape what comes next. We’ll keep pushing for reforms that strengthen rights, make inclusion real, ensure support is actually delivered, and bring health and care fully into the picture. Watch this space.
14 May 2026
MPs debate King’s Speech
Members of Parliament debated key announcements from the King’s Speech including proposed reforms to the SEND system. The debate did not go into depth on the reforms, but some of the key issues we highlighted in a briefing we sent before the debate were raised.
Notably, Labour MP Peter Swallow stressed the importance of making sure the reforms come with a clear workforce plan to make sure that there are enough occupational therapists, speech and language therapists and other professionals so that children with SEND can get the right help.
Mr Swallow also stressed the importance of ensuring accountability was properly built into the new system and said the right safeguards needed to be in place for Individual Support Plans to make sure every child gets the support they need.
Meanwhile Labour MP Kate Osborne highlighted the need to make sure the system works for those with the most complex needs.
Liberal Democrat schools spokesperson Caroline Voaden committed to giving the Bill full scrutiny when it is brought forward.
Others in the debate highlighted the challenges and fights families in their constituencies currently face in trying to get the support their child needs.
13 May 2026
King’s Speech
In today’s King’s Speech, the government confirmed it will change the law on SEND this parliamentary session, informed by the outcomes of the current consultation.
Parliamentary sessions usually last around a year. While that means new legislation is expected to pass within the next year, changes to the law won’t begin to be implemented until after that. The government has also confirmed that transition arrangements will be in place — including a guarantee that every child with a specialist setting place in September 2029 will be able to remain in a specialist setting until they finish their education.
12 May 2026
New report published: How to Help Me Learn and Thrive
The Disabled Children’s Partnership and Kids have published How to Help Me Learn and Thrive — a new report drawn from research with 520 disabled young people about their experience of school and college, and what they say would make things better.
It’s one of the most direct accounts yet of how the SEND system is failing the children and young people it was built to serve.
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