SEND: what will the Schools White Paper delay mean?

For months, there has been widespread speculation about a new Schools White Paper, which was expected this autumn. It promised to create a ‘better’ special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) system with strengthened support, improved access and more funding.

However, yesterday, Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson informed the Chair of the Education Select Committee, Helen Hayes MP, that she has postponed the delivery of the white paper until early in the new year to “ensure the most effective set of reforms”.

Phillipson emphasised her desire for an extended period of collaboration, stating that she aims to test the proposals with the people who matter most in these reforms—families—alongside teachers and other experts.

For some, this has heightened concerns that a solution to the SEND crisis remains out of reach, leaving families in limbo for longer. Yet others believe that the government hitting the pause button to take stock of evidence from a raft of recent reports and proposals—including the recent SEND petition debate—is the right thing to do.

Whatever changes now happen, Learning Disability Today and our campaign partners at Save Our Children’s Rights stand by our belief that removing existing legal rights in the form of  Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCPs) from children is not the answer; rather, it is the bedrock on which every forthcoming reform should be built.

Why is there a delay in the white paper?

In her letter, the education secretary said that she wanted to move towards a system where high-quality support is provided as soon as a need is identified, rather than only once an EHCP is in place, and that responding to the needs of children with SEND must become an intrinsic part of the mainstream system, rather than something additional.

She added that the recent Education Select Committee report had made several “thoughtful recommendations which her department is considering carefully”.

The department also wanted to consider publications from the Children’s Commissioner, which set a vision for reform, and the recent Sutton Trust report, which found that disadvantaged children are more likely to have special needs and less likely to receive specialist support.

She also mentioned a new report from the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) published the same day as the white paper announcement.

The report found that the demand for EHCP assessments has risen by 250% since 2014, with families seeing them as the only means of securing support. Last year alone, 105,240 young people underwent an EHCP needs assessment.

However, less than half (46.4 per cent) were issued within the statutory time limit of 20 weeks. For one in 14 young people, the wait was longer than a year.

It said that his surge means that more and more children are being forced to rely on a system already struggling to meet their needs.

Five principles of new SEND reforms

Phillipson said that it would be crucial to build a consensus around the reforms. Therefore, they would test the policy options under consideration and seek views through listening sessions in every region of the country.

In the spirit of sharing, she said that these SEND reforms would be underpinned by the five principles: early support, local provision, clear legal requirements and safeguards, effective practice that has excellent long-term outcomes, and partnerships between education, health and care services.

She ended the letter by saying that she was acutely aware that the reforms to SEND are some of the most critical this Government will deliver, and that is why it is so essential that they take the time to listen and get it right.

“I am more determined than ever to transform a system that is letting down our children,” she added.

What happens next?

Our campaign partner, Special Needs Jungle, said that the best thing that can happen now is to appropriately fund the SEND system we have in place and tighten loopholes through accountability, such as making SEN Support statutory.

It added: “Then we give it a chance to be what it can be, instead of wasting another generation and billions of pounds on new reforms that will take years to create, test and implement—only to be met with the same issues we face now.

“Children get one shot at education, and we must understand that the lives, environment, and needs of children today are very different from even a decade ago.”

IPSEA, our other campaign partner, agreed that SEND reform has to mean making the system work as it should, not tearing up the right to an education that meets every child and young person’s needs.

“We are relieved that ministers aren’t pushing ahead with the wrong reforms, which restricting EHC plans in the way that was rumoured would have been,” they said. “But allowing rumours and speculation to develop in the way they did is unconscionable: it has caused so much uncertainty and anxiety for parents of children and young people.

“While we understand the Government’s wish to make evidence-based decisions, we urge the Department for Education to use this additional time wisely – to strengthen the existing legal framework and ensure that the rights of children and young people are not only upheld, but truly protected in the reforms to come”.

Alison Bloomer

Alison Bloomer is Editor of Learning Disability Today.

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