SEND Reforms: Putting Children and Young People First Consultation

SEND Reforms Putting Children and Young People First.pdf

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Following the SEND forum I held on 1 May 2026 with parents and carers from across the Stratford-on-Avon constituency, I submitted a response to the Department for Education’s SEND reform consultation which you can read in full in the attached.

I welcome the focus on earlier identification, early intervention and better support in mainstream schools. However, I am clear that reform must not weaken legal protections, reduce parental choice, remove tribunal powers, or limit access to specialist provision where this is the right setting for a child.

Key priorities

• We welcome the focus on early years intervention. The earlier we identify need and start addressing it, the better the outcomes will be for children.

• We welcome the central focus on inclusion through improving support in mainstream settings. However, this also raises concerns of readiness and capacity of schools to meet needs.

• There needs to be clarity and confidence in how assessments for the most appropriate setting for a child are made.

• We are very concerned about removing power from SEND tribunals to direct a local authority to name a specific setting as this will give parents even less opportunity to choose a setting that suits their child.

• Education health and care plans (EHCP) provide legal enforceability. From the consultation documents we do not have any assurance that this will be applicable to Individual Support plans.  Legal backstop must remain also for Individual Support Plans. We are opposed to any weakening of legal protections.

• Every school should have access to a speech and language therapist.

• Recruitment, retention of teachers, teaching assistants, support staff plus increasing provision of psychologists and speech and language therapists as well as occupational therapists and capital funding is also uncertain. We must have a clear timescale (it currently takes eight years to train an educational psychologist).

• The government must also clarify funding for this capacity building in mainstream schools and continue to provide specialist provision and schools.

• The DfE must deliver high quality and comprehensive, continuous professional training for the whole school.

• There should be a focus on transition from 16 to 25 in terms of vocational skills, supported internships and a wide range of vocational course, as well as access to health services and treatments. 

• There must be clarity on how SEND reforms will interact with other incentives and targets which schools are set. There needs to be harmony between these.

• We also must review the Curriculum, SATs and GCSE exams and ensure these are inclusive too. 

  
  

SEND reform is urgently needed, but it must create a system where children receive the right support early, families do not have to fight, and every child can access provision that meets their needs.