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As part of what it calls “generational reforms” for children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), the Government has announced a £4 billion investment over three years to ensure every mainstream school is inclusive.
This is ahead of the publication of its schools white paper, Every Child Achieving and Thriving.
The investment includes a new Inclusive Mainstream Fund of £1.6 billion over three years, provided directly to early years settings, schools, and colleges to ensure children receive support where and when they need it.
It will be to run targeted, small-group interventions at the earliest signs of additional needs in children.
Experts at Hand service for children with SEND
There will also be a £1.8 billion investment in a new ‘Experts at Hand’ service. This will create a bank of specialists, such as SEND teachers and speech and language therapists, in every local area for schools to draw on.
Councils will commission local professionals so they are routinely available in every area and will work with Integrated Care Boards and health boards to “deliver targeted interventions on the ground”. The Government says that it will be for any child who needs “a little extra help”, regardless of whether the child has an education, health and care plan (EHCP).
Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson said: “This government is fiercely ambitious for children and young people with SEND.
“Children with SEND deserve a system that lifts them up, and that puts no limit on what they can go on to achieve. That means brilliant teachers and experts providing support where children need it, when they need it – in their local school, without families having to fight.
“These reforms are a watershed moment for a generation of young people and generations to come, and a major milestone in this government’s mission to make sure opportunity is for each and every child.”
Rebuild parents’ confidence in the SEND system
The Department of Education said it wanted to rebuild parents’ confidence after evidence gathered by the Education Select Committee and a wide range of expert reports found that the most consistent issue parents have raised is that SEND support is currently provided too late and even then, only after a fight.
This was also an ongoing theme in the national SEND conversation, which saw ministers speak with parents and teachers all around the country to inform the government’s plans.
Other aims of the white paper include:
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- Ensure every teacher is a teacher of children with SEND, backed by a £200m training budget to help them identify commonly occurring needs and introduce adaptive teaching styles
- Create 60,000 new specialist places to end the postcode lottery of SEND support, so more children can attend their local school
- £200 million invested in Best Start Family Hubs to provide a dedicated SEND outreach and support offer
- The requirement for schools to have an inclusion base will be delivered through the government’s £3.7bn capital investment.
Responses to the Schools White Paper
Special Needs Jungle, the leading website for SEND news, said: “£1.6 billion is a big number on paper. It’ll help make for a great headline. But this is inclusion for the whole education sector. Once you spread it across tens of thousands of individual settings, and once you spread it across three whole years, it’s surprisingly little.
“The DfE claims this fund is “equating to thousands of pounds extra every year” for each setting. And that’s true.
“But put another way, it wouldn’t be enough to pay for more than a few hours a week of teacher time in a school. It wouldn’t even be enough, by itself, to pay for an extra teaching assistant. So even if your mainstream setting already has an inclusive culture, this funding won’t meaningfully add capacity to help you get the job done better.”
A National Autistic Society spokesperson said: “Whilst any extra funding is to be welcomed, simply acknowledging that ‘things are bad’ and then delegating the blame for failings to already overwhelmed and underfunded school staff will not solve anything – unless trying to water down what is the Government’s responsibility is the problem that the Government is actually trying to manage. Not delivering the right reforms, letting children down, has long-lasting impacts that autistic people, families and the Government will spend a lifetime paying for.
“We’re concerned the Government’s reforms aren’t anywhere near enough to fix the broken SEND system that’s been buckling under pressure for years. Autistic children and their families have been left exhausted and traumatised by long fights for the day-to-day support their children need.
“The Government must clearly set out how it will ensure that children’s legal rights to support are fully protected; provide autism training for all school staff; and involve children and families in the development of any new plans and assessments of needs.”
Jon Sparkes OBE, chief executive of learning disability charity Mencap, said: “We’re pleased the Government is committed to reforming the SEND system, which is currently failing children with a learning disability. Right now, too many families are left waiting, fighting and worn down. No child’s future should depend on parents battling for support. That isn’t fair, and it isn’t sustainable.
“The move to make mainstream schools more inclusive is welcome news. Families must have their children’s needs identified early and for them to be given the right help straight away, backed by services fully funded to do the job, and rights underpinned by law.”
Jane Green from SEDSConnective said: “For too many families, the current system is defined by stress, distrust, and costly legal wrangling. A system in which substantial public funding goes to tribunals and lawyers rather than provision for children is neither efficient nor humane. Reform is necessary.
“However, meaningful change will depend not on structural reorganisation alone, but on whether reforms address the root causes of dispute: unmet need, variable expertise, and persistent failure to recognise complex, cooccurring, often fluctuating physical conditions alongside neurodivergence. To succeed, specialist, lived experience organisations like ours must be central to planning, training, and governance.”
