18 September 2025 

The cross-party House of Commons Education Select Committee has published a report called “Solving the SEND crisis”, which sets out the findings of a detailed inquiry MPs have been carrying out since January and makes detailed recommendations to the Government on what needs to change. 

MPs have concluded that the SEND system should be made to work as the law requires, with early intervention to support children as soon as their special educational needs are identified, schools that are genuinely inclusive, and proper accountability for the way decisions are made about provision for children and young people with SEND. 

Some of the select committee’s key recommendations include: 

• A clear definition of what “inclusive education” means.
• Education settings and environments that are accessible, safe and designed to meet a wide range of sensory and physical needs.
• School staff properly trained to support diverse learners, with access to specialist professionals.
• A national framework for “ordinarily available provision” and SEN support, so that an EHC plan isn’t the only way for children to secure the support they need.
• Inspection by Ofsted of the things that show whether a school is inclusive or not, such as the proportion of pupils with SEND on roll, their attendance rates and exclusion figures.
• Mandatory, comprehensive SEND training for all Ofsted inspectors.
• Scrutiny in local area SEND inspections of non-compliance with the law by local authorities, with an area’s inspection rating lowered where they fail to uphold their statutory duties to children and young people.
• An extended role for the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman to cover complaints about the delivery of EHC plans, SEN support and other inclusive education for children with SEND in schools, including multi-academy trusts.
• Retention of the SEND Tribunal “as a backstop of the accountability process”.
• Extending the powers of the SEND Tribunal to make legally binding rulings for health services, not just education providers. 

You can read the full details of all recommendations online. 

IPSEA made a detailed written submission to the inquiry, and our senior solicitor, Georgina Downard, was invited to give evidence in Parliament alongside the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman, Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission. 

Responding to the report, Georgina Downard, said: 

“It is excellent to see MPs unequivocally supporting children and young people’s continued legal right to an education that meets their needs and highlighting the need for compliance with the law. 

“We are particularly pleased that the committee says that the Government’s SEND reforms mustn’t be based on any withdrawal of statutory entitlements for children and young people. The report is very strong on the need to improve accountability, and it recommends many of the changes that IPSEA proposed. 

“I hope that the Schools White Paper, when it comes, is equally focused on accountability, inclusiveness and maintaining the rights-based SEND framework.” 

The select committee report, plus the debate in Parliament earlier this week on maintaining children’s legal rights to SEND provision, demonstrates how much support there is among MPs for making the education system work for children and young people with SEND. But ministers decide and set policy. The Government’s Schools White Paper, due to be published at some point this autumn, will explain how they intend to proceed on SEND reform.