SEND help

Everything you need to know about the government's special educational needs plans

For months the schools’ white paper has been on the Westminster radar as a potential tripwire for the government. Most of the chapters are fairly anodyne. But the one on reforming support special educational needs (SEND) is contentious because it seeks to reduce the number of young people receiving Education and Health Care Plans (EHCPs).

Most pupils with existing plans will keep them, at least to 16, which will partially ease the concern. But some disability charities, teacher unions, and parents’ groups, have already set up campaigns to oppose changes.

The government, well aware of the political risk, delayed this white paper repeatedly to try and get as many people on board before release as possible. They have been particularly focused on Labour backbenchers, given what happened with attempted welfare cuts. MPs get more correspondence on SEND than almost anything else so are understandably nervous.

But this is very different to the proposed changes to Personal Independence Payments (PIP) that fell apart last summer. That was a straightforward cut that would have left hundreds of thousands of people with a significant loss of income, and the government’s justifications made little sense.¹ It was a policy driven by the Treasury to fill a hole in the budget.

In contrast, the SEND reforms will cost money in this Parliament. Potential savings are almost a decade away. The main objective is to overhaul a system that no one thinks is working and to improve outcomes. So I wouldn’t expect a backbench rebellion on the principles.

That doesn’t mean, though, that there won’t be pushback on some of the specifics. Or that the reforms will achieve their objectives. This is an incredibly complex bit of policy with a long transition and lots that could go wrong. The switch to the new system isn’t due to happen until after the next election, which means the reaction of other parties is important too.

In the rest of this post I’ll look at the problem ministers are trying to solve; the key proposals; and the three big issues that will cause the most difficulty. I’ll finish with some thoughts on how the politics might play out over the coming months and years.