A Turning Point for SEND? Reflections on the New Reform Proposals

When the government published its new SEND reform proposals within the Schools White Paper, Every Child Achieving and Thriving, it described them as a once-in-a-generation reset of the SEND system in England. The intention — to move towards earlier intervention, strengthen inclusion in mainstream schools, and reduce adversarial EHCP battles — is, on paper, welcome.

But for families and educators already navigating an overstretched system, hope is tempered by hard experience.

At Better EdSpace, we work closely with teenagers who have experienced the SEND system first-hand — and we see both its strengths and its fractures every day.

The Context: A System Under Strain

The current SEND framework — shaped significantly by the Children and Families Act 2014 — placed Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCPs) at the centre of statutory support. EHCPs were intended to integrate education, health and social care around the child.

In practice, however, the system has struggled under:

• Rapidly rising numbers of identified SEND pupils

• Long assessment delays

• A growing backlog of EHCP applications

• Severe shortages of educational psychologists, speech and language therapists, and specialist teachers

• Escalating tribunal cases between families and local authorities

The new reforms propose a shift away from EHCPs as the primary gateway to support, introducing Individual Support Plans (ISPs) and strengthening mainstream inclusion.

There is genuine merit in that vision.

Early support, embedded within everyday schooling, is far preferable to late crisis intervention after years of unmet need.

But vision and implementation are two different things.

The Promise: Early Intervention and Expert Access

The government has pledged billions in investment, including:

• An Inclusive Mainstream Fund

• An “Experts at Hand” service to increase specialist access

• Expanded SEND training for teachers

• Clearer national inclusion standards

These commitments acknowledge something crucial: classroom teachers cannot carry SEND provision alone.

For Key Stage 1 and beyond, adaptive teaching, small-group intervention, and personalised pathways must be resourced, not merely expected.

From our perspective at Better EdSpace, this recognition is positive. Many of the teenagers who join us do so after years of feeling misunderstood, under-supported, or labelled as “difficult” when in reality they were dysregulated, anxious, or neurodivergent without adequate scaffolding.

If reforms genuinely deliver earlier assessment, embedded specialist support, and confident inclusive teaching, fewer young people should reach adolescence in crisis.

That is the hope.

The Reality We See on the Ground

However, our lived experience tells us that policy promises often outpace workforce capacity.

We regularly work with teenagers who:

• Waited years for specialist assessments

• Had EHCP provisions that were legally specified but practically undelivered

• Experienced repeated school moves due to unmet needs

• Developed anxiety, school avoidance, or trauma linked to educational settings

The central question is not whether reform is needed. It is.

The question is whether the reform adequately addresses the structural shortages that caused the crisis in the first place.

There is already:

• A national shortage of educational psychologists

• Significant waiting lists for speech and language therapy

• Recruitment and retention challenges across teaching

• High levels of burnout among SENCOs

If EHCPs are reduced and mainstream schools carry greater responsibility for personalised support, then specialist capacity must not just increase incrementally — it must expand dramatically.

Without that, responsibility shifts without relief.

A Delicate Balance: Optimism and Caution

At Better EdSpace, we believe in inclusive, rigorous and creative education for teenagers — including those with complex SEND profiles. We see what is possible when:

• Staff are deeply trained in adolescent development

• Class sizes are small

• Therapeutic thinking is embedded

• Young people are known as individuals

We also know that scaling this nationally requires more than funding announcements.

It requires:

1. A long-term workforce strategy to train and retain specialists

2. Time built into teachers’ schedules for meaningful planning and collaboration

3. Transparent accountability to ensure provision promised is provision delivered

4. Ongoing consultation with parents and specialist providers

Parents’ anxiety is understandable. Many have fought hard — sometimes through tribunals — to secure the support their child needs. Any move perceived as weakening statutory protections will feel threatening unless replacement systems are demonstrably robust.

What We Hope to See

If this reform is to succeed, it must:

• Reduce waiting times for assessment

• Make specialist advice accessible without bureaucratic barriers

• Protect parental voice

• Provide real staffing increases, not theoretical access

• Prevent adolescence becoming the point at which unmet need erupts

At Better EdSpace, we remain cautiously hopeful. It is encouraging to see SEND placed at the centre of national educational reform rather than treated as a peripheral issue.

But hope must be matched with delivery.

Young people cannot wait through another cycle of policy optimism followed by under-resourced implementation.

They need support that works — in classrooms, in real time, with qualified professionals present.

Final Thoughts

SEND reform is necessary. The current system is strained, inequitable and too often adversarial. The aspiration to embed earlier, personalised support within mainstream schools is commendable.

Yet the teenagers we work with remind us daily that unmet need carries long-term consequences — academically, emotionally and socially.

The success of these reforms will not be measured in policy documents, but in whether fewer young people arrive at adolescence feeling that the system has failed them.

At Better EdSpace, we stand ready to contribute our experience, advocate for thoughtful implementation, and continue supporting the young people who deserve nothing less than education that truly understands them.