18 May 2026

Today is the deadline for responses to the Government’s consultation on SEND reform. IPSEA has submitted answers to the consultation questions, as well as a detailed supplementary paper exploring important issues not covered by the Department for Education’s questions.

We have highlighted that although the proposed reforms promise significant improvements, they also risk weakening the existing legal protections that children, young people and families depend on.

As part of IPSEA's response to the consultation, our key ask to the Government is not to replace children and young people’s enforceable legal rights to special educational provision that meets their individual needs with a set of unenforceable aspirations.

The positive aspects of the SEND reform proposals – specifically the emphasis on earlier intervention, more inclusive schools, better training for school staff, improved collaboration between local partners, and greater involvement of specialists – can and should be happening right now, under the current legal framework.

Making these things happen does not require legislative change or the removal of rights. Instead, it requires sufficient resources and a change in culture, so that the law is routinely applied and implemented, rather than widely circumvented as at present.

Avoiding unintended consequences

Our response highlights some of the unintended consequences of the proposed reforms, such as more discretion for public bodies over what happens to individual children and young people, and fewer remedies for families when things go wrong. We urge policymakers to consider carefully whether this is really what they want to happen.

What we want to happen

We are urging the Government to amend the proposed reforms in the following specific ways:

• Strengthen support for children and young people both with and without EHC plans, without diluting their individual, enforceable legal rights.
• Make Individual Support Plans (ISPs) legally binding and enforceable by a parent or young person, with provision set out to meet individual needs.
• Put in place a clear mechanism for children and young people who are not in school or college to secure the provision they need.
• Retain all current rights to appeal against unlawful decisions, with no reduction in the powers of the SEND Tribunal.
• Extend the remit of the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman so the Ombudsman can investigate complaints about support in schools for children with SEND.

We have also set out our concerns about the way the Government has carried out this consultation, in particular:

• The consultation doesn’t make clear that the proposed reforms would reduce existing rights and entitlements;
• There are no consultation questions on some of the biggest planned changes;
• It’s unclear which proposals remain under consideration and which have already been decided;
• There’s no evidence that the needs of children and young people who are educated outside of school settings have been considered.

IPSEA’s Chief Executive, Madeleine Cassidy, said: