The SEND Change Programme is a national programme to test some of the changes the Government wants to make to the system for supporting children and young people with SEND. 

It is being delivered by “Change Programme Partnerships” in each of the nine regions of England, each led by at least one named local authority. These are listed below: 

• East Midlands: Leicester, Leicestershire, Rutland (joint leads)
• East of England: Bedford (lead), Central Bedfordshire, Luton
• London: Barnet (lead), Camden, Enfield, Islington
• North East: Hartlepool (lead), Durham, Gateshead, Stockton-on-Tees
• North West: Manchester (lead), Oldham, Rochdale, Trafford
• South East: Portsmouth (lead), Brighton, East Sussex, West Sussex
• South West: Gloucestershire, Swindon (joint leads)
• West Midlands: Telford & Wrekin (lead), Herefordshire, Shropshire
• Yorkshire & Humber: Wakefield (lead), Bradford, Calderdale, Leeds 

The Government’s proposed reforms to the SEND system are set out in the SEND and Alternative Provision Improvement Plan. These include: 

• Developing national standards for SEND provision. It’s important to note that new national standards can’t replace the existing law on support for children and young people with SEND.
• Developing local inclusion partnerships and local inclusion plans, to plan the provision and support that should be available in each area.
• Developing individual “tailored lists” of education placements for children and young people with an EHC plan, from which parents/carers will be invited to choose. Parents/carers still have the right to request that a particular school, college or other setting is named in an EHC plan (Section 38, Children and Families Act 2014).
• Changing the mediation process, with the aim of increasing the number of families who opt for mediation rather than pursuing an appeal to the SEND Tribunal. Again, it’s important to be clear that the law hasn’t changed and parents/carers can’t be forced to take part in mediation.
• Testing of a new national template for EHC plans, to replace the current situation where each local authority uses its own template. 

What is NOT changing 

The main thing to note is that the SEND and Alternative Provision Improvement Plan contains no plans to change the law on support for children and young people with SEND, which continues to apply in its entirety. Children and young people with SEND have the legal right to special educational provision that meets their individual needs.

The SEND Change Programme can’t introduce changes that are outside the law. It can’t change the legal test for an EHC needs assessment, existing statutory timescales, the annual review process or anything else. 

Local authorities can invite parents/carers to participate in a new way of doing things as part of the SEND Change Programme, but they can’t introduce local policies that say something different to the law. It’s essential that parents/carers understand this, and know that their children’s legal rights and entitlements remain unchanged even in the context of a local pilot of reforms. 

Local authorities must follow the law, parents/carers/young people can continue to rely on it, and the SEND Tribunal will continue to apply it.

 

For information on what the law says about a variety of SEND law topics, take a look at our free guides, resources and template letters.