Article · Updated 13 June 2026 · 8 min read

SEND Reforms 2029–2035: What England's Schools White Paper Means for Your Child

The UK government has announced major changes to how children with special educational needs and disabilities are supported in England. Here's what we know so far, what's still genuinely unclear, and what parents can do now.

EducationSpecial NeedsSafety

A note on scope and timing. This article is about England’s special educational needs system — the reforms described here don’t apply in Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, or other countries, though if you’re navigating a special needs system elsewhere, the general advice on record-keeping and seeking specialist support may still be useful. This is also a fast-moving story: the Schools White Paper is recent, many details are still emerging, and we’ll keep updating as further guidance becomes available. Last updated: 13 June 2026.

If you have a child with special educational needs or disabilities in England, you’ve probably already heard that something significant is changing. The government’s Schools White Paper sets out a major overhaul of the SEND system — one of the biggest in a decade. If you’re feeling anxious or uncertain, that’s entirely understandable; many families are. This article tries to explain, as clearly and honestly as we can, what’s been announced, what it might mean for different families, and what you can do right now. Where the answer is genuinely “we don’t know yet”, we’ll say so.

Key takeaways

  • From September 2029, EHCPs will be reassessed at transition points; by 2035, EHCPs will be reserved for children with the most complex needs
  • A new three-tier system of Individual Support Plans (ISPs), drawn up by schools, will cover all children with SEND
  • Nothing changes immediately — the current system remains in place until at least September 2029
  • If your child has an EHCP or is being assessed, keep copies of everything and track deadlines now
  • Free, legally-based advice is available from IPSEA if you’re worried

What’s happening?

The government has confirmed three headline changes to how SEND support works in England:

  1. From September 2029, children’s Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCPs) will be reassessed at transition points — for example, when a child moves from primary to secondary school.

  2. By 2035, EHCPs will be reserved for only children with the most complex needs. This represents a significant narrowing of who qualifies for the highest level of statutory support.

  3. A new system of Individual Support Plans (ISPs) will be introduced for all children with SEND. These will be drawn up by schools and categorised at three levels:

    • Targeted: support such as small-group help and reasonable adjustments
    • Targeted Plus: access to specialists including speech and language therapists and educational psychologists
    • Specialist: support for more complex needs, which entitles a child to an EHCP delivered by the local authority

The government has said it will invest £4 billion in SEND over the next three years to make “every school truly inclusive.” It has also said it will cap what private schools can charge for specialist places. (BBC News)

What is SEND? Who is affected?

SEND stands for special educational needs and disabilities. It applies to children and young people who need extra support to meet their physical, communication, social, emotional, or mental health needs.

The scale is significant. Around 1.7 million pupils in England’s schools — roughly one in five — currently receive some form of SEND support. Of those, about 5% of all pupils (483,000) have an EHCP, the highest level of statutory support. Including young people up to the age of 25 who remain in education, the total number of people with EHCPs in England is 639,000 — a figure that has more than doubled in a decade. (BBC News)

Much of that increase has been driven by a rise in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) diagnoses — ASD is now listed as the primary need in a third of all EHCPs. Demand for speech and language support has also risen since Covid, and more young people are seeking help with social, emotional, and mental health needs.

Overall spending on SEND has risen by two-thirds in the past decade, according to the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS). Councils are projected to spend £14.8 billion on SEND in 2025/26, up from £5 billion in 2015/16, according to the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR). Despite this, in 2024 the National Audit Office (NAO) declared the SEND system in England “broken” and “financially unsustainable.” (BBC News)

What does this mean for my child?

The honest answer is: the detail is still emerging, and the picture will vary significantly depending on your child’s situation. Here’s what we can say based on what’s been announced so far — and where we genuinely can’t say more yet.

If your child currently has an EHCP: Their plan will not change immediately. The reassessment at transition points begins in September 2029, so if your child is approaching a transition (e.g. moving to secondary school), this is worth keeping an eye on. The move to reserving EHCPs for the most complex needs doesn’t complete until 2035, but reassessments from 2029 onwards will be shaped by the new framework. What counts as “the most complex needs” under the new system hasn’t yet been fully defined in the material available to us — we’ll update this article when that detail is published.

If your child is currently being assessed for an EHCP: The current system remains in place until at least September 2029. However, it’s worth knowing that fewer than half of EHCPs were issued within the 20-week legal deadline in 2024, so the process can be slow. If you’re in the middle of an assessment, keep records of all correspondence and deadlines — it’s tedious, but it can matter a great deal later.

If your child might need support in future: Under the new system, children who would previously have received an EHCP may instead receive an ISP at “targeted plus” or “specialist” level. Whether this provides equivalent support in practice is one of the key open questions being raised by families and charities — and one that the government’s implementation detail will need to answer. We simply don’t know yet.

What are the concerns?

Families and charities have raised a number of significant concerns about the reforms, as reported by the BBC. These centre on whether the new ISP system will provide genuinely equivalent support to EHCPs, and whether the shift away from statutory plans will leave some children without the legal protections they currently have.

EHCPs carry legal weight: local authorities are legally required to deliver the support they specify. ISPs, as described so far, are drawn up by schools — and it isn’t yet clear from the available source material what legal enforceability they will carry. This is a concern that organisations supporting SEND families have highlighted.

There’s also real anxiety about the transition process itself. Reassessments at transition points are a moment of vulnerability for families — the prospect of a child’s support being reduced or removed as they move to secondary school is a source of genuine worry for many parents, and we don’t think that worry is unreasonable.

The record number of SEND tribunals in 2024/25 — where parents challenged refusals or levels of support — reflects how contested the current system already is. Families and advocates have questioned whether the new framework will reduce or increase that conflict. The evidence simply isn’t in yet.

We’ll add direct quotes from named charities and family voices as further reporting becomes available. The source material we’re working from doesn’t include specific named quotes from charities or families, and we won’t invent them.

What does the government say?

The government’s case for reform rests on three pillars.

First, financial sustainability. The current system is, by the government’s own description, one it “inherited on its knees.” The OBR predicts that £14 billion in SEND deficits will have built up by 2028. The government has committed £5 billion to pay off 90% of council SEND deficits built up to the end of March 2026, and says future SEND costs will be managed centrally rather than by local authorities from 2028. (BBC News)

Second, inclusion. The £4 billion investment is framed around making mainstream schools “truly inclusive” — the argument being that better-resourced mainstream provision means fewer children need to rely on specialist placements or the most intensive statutory support.

Third, outcomes. The NAO’s finding that the system was not delivering better outcomes for children despite a 58% funding increase in the decade to 2024/25 is central to the government’s argument that structural reform, not just more money, is needed.

What should parents do now?

The reforms don’t take effect until 2029 at the earliest, but there are practical steps worth taking now:

  • Know your child’s current plan status. If your child has an EHCP, keep a copy and understand what it says. If you’re in the middle of an assessment, track the 20-week deadline.
  • Talk to your school’s SENCO. Your school’s Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator is your first point of contact for understanding how your child’s support is being managed and how the school is preparing for changes.
  • Contact a specialist charity if you’re worried. IPSEA (Independent Provider of Special Education Advice) offers free, legally-based advice to families of children with SEND. SEND Action is another organisation supporting families navigating the system.
  • Watch for the DfE consultation. Major policy changes of this kind are typically subject to consultation. Check the Department for Education website for any open consultations on the White Paper proposals.
  • Stay informed. This story will develop significantly over the coming months, and we’ll keep updating this article as detail emerges.

This article is based on reporting by BBC News. The White Paper itself is published by the Department for Education — we will link directly to the relevant document once we have confirmed the URL. All statistics are sourced from BBC News reporting, which cites the IFS, OBR, and NAO.

Sources:

Sources

← All articles