Government publishes White Paper on SEND reform and invites people’s views

23 February 2026 

The Government has today published its long-awaited Schools White Paper, which includes proposals for reforming the SEND system. There will now be a period of public consultation on these proposals lasting until 18 May 2026.

What’s in the White Paper? 

Our legal and policy teams are analysing the contents of the White Paper, and its implications for the existing SEND legal framework and for children and young people with SEND. We will share this analysis shortly and will produce a detailed response to the consultation.

On initial review, we are concerned that although the Government has described the proposals as a “radical expansion of rights”, aspects of the reforms appear to weaken existing legal protections.

In particular, we are concerned that:

• The proposed changes to future Education, Health and Care (EHC) plans raise significant questions - about the threshold for entitlement to a plan, the nature of the provision children and young people will actually receive, and how plans will be enforced and  changes made if necessary.
• The proposed new “Individual Support Plans” represent a significant change, and there appear minimal rights about the content and creation of these for parents.
• School and college placement rights appear fundamentally changed and weakened, and the Tribunal’s powers to order an appropriate school or college place would be removed.
• The matters which can be appealed and the orders the Tribunal can make also appear to be fundamentally changed.

Our response 

We are committed to defending the legal rights and entitlements of children and young people with SEND. We will be working constructively with families and young people over the consultation period, as well as the Government and MPs, to ensure that any proposals to the system continue to meet individual needs and are firmly underpinned by enforceable legal rights.

Commenting on the White Paper, our Chief Executive, Madeleine Cassidy, said:

“We welcome the Government’s ambition to improve inclusivity across schools and are reviewing the detail of the White Paper to see whether or how the proposed system will safeguard the existing legal rights of children and young people with SEND.

Of concern are the changes to future EHC plans under the proposed reforms. We will also be carefully scrutinising the proposals for targeted support and individual support plans - how they would create a legally binding duty to secure provision, how schools and local authorities would be held accountable, or and what rights of challenge would be available to parents. These are fundamental questions.

We understand this is an unsettling time for families. The most important thing to know right now is that the SEND legal framework currently remains unchanged and all existing legal duties continue to apply in full.”

Have your say

The consultation is open to anyone who wishes to respond. We encourage parents and carers of children and young people with SEND, as well as young people themselves, to share their views and experiences with the Department for Education.

Details of how to respond to the consultation can be found here: SEND reform: putting children and young people first - GOV.UK