I’ve heard heart breaking stories from families across Norwich about how badly they’ve been let down by the broken SEND system. Children get support far too late, some don’t get it at all, or have to travel miles and miles to specialist schools. The system is adversarial, meaning families must fight to get the support their kids deserve.
Today, the Government has set out much-needed reforms to fix the system, rebuild confidence for families, ensure young people with SEND get the right support closer to home, and to make every school truly inclusive. The plans, backed by £4 billion of investment in SEND support will help end the one size fits all education system that has damaged the lives of too many children.
Key measures in the proposals include
- In every school, there will be dedicated funding from the £1.6 billion inclusion grant to deliver proven programmes like small group speech and language support to respond to the most commonly occurring SEND needs.
- An inclusion base in every secondary school to deliver additional support and small group work. This follows £3.7 billion investment to create over 60,000 more specialist places across early years settings, schools and colleges.
- In every classroom, teachers will be trained to meet the needs of children with SEND – backed by £200 million of investment.
- £1.8 billion of investment over three years will create a new ‘Experts at Hand’ service for education and health professionals like educational psychologists and speech and language therapists – so they are routinely available in every area.
- A new legal requirement for schools to create Individual Support Plans (ISPs) for all children with SEND. Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCPs) will continue for those who need them, based on national, evidence-based guidelines. All existing EHCPs and protections will remain in place until September 2030.
We will always need specialist provision as well, which is why children who will receive better results outside of mainstream school will continue to be supported in specialist sites. Therefore, I welcome the funding the Government has already provided for two new specialist schools in Norfolk.
The proposals the Government published today have been shaped by the people who will be most affected and that continues through the launch of a 12-week consultation. I’m encouraging you to have your say and take part. You can find more information here:
SEND reform: putting children and young people first – Department for Education – Citizen Space
Too many children have been let down for far too long, but I genuinely believe that that has begun to change today. I will continue to scrutinise the details of these proposals and ensure your voice is heard so we get this right and ensure that every child gets the support they need.