What the SEND Reform Plans Mean for Your Child's School This September

The specific question parents are asking is what these reforms actually mean for their child's classroom from September 2026 onwards. Let me write it.

The story so far

On 23 February 2026, the government published its Schools White Paper, Every child achieving and thriving, setting out the most significant overhaul of special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) support in England for more than a decade. No changes to support received through education, health and care plans (EHCPs) would take place before at least September 2030. In the meantime, wider support and funding for schools would be introduced to prepare for a reformed system.

What that means for parents is this: the legal framework around EHCPs is not changing yet. But the day-to-day support your child experiences in school — whether they have an identified need or sit next to a child who does — is changing from September 2026.

Councils are now under pressure. Local authorities in England must outline SEND plans by June 2026 to receive £860m from a £3bn fund, aimed at creating 50,000 new places for children with special educational needs in mainstream schools. With local SEND reform plans due to be submitted to the government by 19 June, the shape of provision in your area is being decided right now.

The new "layered" model, in plain terms

The current system has two tiers: SEN Support (organised by the school) and EHCPs (statutory plans issued by the council). The current two-tier SEND system of SEN Support and EHCPs will be replaced by a new four-tier system.

The four layers, as the white paper sets them out, look like this:

• Universal: the quality teaching every child receives. Better adapted lessons, clearer routines, staff trained to spot need earlier.
• Targeted: learners get an Individual Support Plan (ISP), created by the setting with input from parents. Targeted Plus: learners get an ISP created by the setting with input from parents, education and health professionals. Support at this level may include small-group interventions.
• Targeted Plus: as above, with health and education professionals brought in, and potential access to a support base.
• Specialist: Specialist: these learners will get EHCPs.

A child can move between layers. For example a child may start off being supported by the universal offer alone, but draw on the three layers of support as their needs change over time.

This is the practical shift parents need to grasp: support is no longer a binary of "EHCP or nothing meaningful." There is now a recognised middle ground, and the paperwork that goes with it.

What an Individual Support Plan (ISP) actually is

The ISP is the document that replaces the patchwork of school-by-school SEN Support paperwork. ISPs are designed to remedy this inconsistency, introducing a standardised, digital record that stays with the pupil, is developed with parents and updates as needs change.

Under the government white paper on education reforms, every child identified with SEND will have a legal right to an Individual Support Plan (ISP). Crucially, unlike EHCPs, ISPs will be created and managed by schools or colleges in consultation with parents.

That difference matters. EHCPs are statutory documents issued by the local authority after assessment, with appeal rights to a tribunal. ISPs sit with the school. They should be quicker to put in place and easier to update — but they will not carry the same legal teeth as an EHCP. Parents who currently rely on the EHCP route for legal certainty should keep in mind that, for now, EHCPs remain in place and untouched until 2030 at the earliest.

"Inclusion bases" — what they are and where they go

The most visible physical change in secondary schools will be the inclusion base. The government announced this week that £860 million will be shared across councils in 2026-27 as part of a £3 billion investment aimed at creating 60,000 new specialist places. The government wants an inclusion base in every mainstream secondary.

In practice, an inclusion base is a designated space within a mainstream school — sometimes called a resource base, SEN unit or support unit elsewhere — where children with more complex needs can spend part of their week, while remaining on the roll of the mainstream school and joining their peers for as much of the timetable as suits them.

The ambition is that more children with SEND are educated in their local mainstream school rather than travelling miles to specialist provision. For councils, success here would reduce reliance on EHCPs, lower transport pressures and allow more children to be educated closer to home.

The harder question is whether every secondary can actually deliver one. Tes analysis reveals huge regional gaps in existing specialist facilities, and a base requires staffing, training and a suitable room — none of which appear overnight.

The funding numbers parents will hear about

A few figures are worth holding on to, because they will come up in school newsletters and governors' meetings:

• A £1.6 billion Inclusive Mainstream Fund will go directly to early years settings, schools and colleges to resource early intervention.
• The average primary school is set to receive £14,000 from the fund in 2026-27, while the average-sized secondary will receive £48,000.
• From September 2026, over £200 million will fund a national training package for education staff across early years, schools, and post-16 settings to build inclusive practice.

For a typical school, £14,000 or £48,000 is meaningful but not transformative. It will pay for some training, a part-time intervention role, a few hours of educational psychology. It will not, on its own, fund a fully staffed inclusion base.

What schools must publish — and what parents can ask for

One concrete change comes with a date attached. All schools will be required to publish an inclusion strategy from December 2026.

That document is your starting point as a parent. Ofsted will also be looking at this work: Ofsted's inspection toolkits will reflect the enrichment benchmarks from September 2026.

Before September 2026, and again in the autumn term, these are the questions worth asking your child's school — whether or not your child has identified SEND:

• Where are you in the new four-tier model? Has the school mapped its current SEN Support pupils across Universal, Targeted, Targeted Plus and Specialist?
• When will my child get an ISP, and who writes it? If your child is on the SEN register, ask when their plan will transition to the new format and how you will be involved in writing it.
• What is the school's inclusion strategy going to say? Ask the SENCO (Special Educational Needs Coordinator) what they are drafting for the December 2026 publication.
• Is this school getting an inclusion base? If yes, ask about the building works, staffing and timeline. If no, ask which local school children with more complex needs are expected to attend.
• How is the Inclusive Mainstream Fund being spent? Schools should be able to tell you, in broad terms, what the extra money is paying for.
• What about training? With £200 million flagged for staff training from September 2026, ask which staff are being trained and in what.

For parents of children without SEND

Roughly one in six pupils in England is on the SEN register at any one time. If the reforms work as intended, more of those pupils will be educated in mainstream classrooms, with more visible support. That is the point.

Practically, it means your child's classroom may include more children with identified needs, more teaching assistants, more small-group work happening alongside whole-class teaching. Good schools have been doing this for years. The reforms are an attempt to make it the norm rather than the exception.

If you have concerns about pace or stretch for your own child, raise them with the class teacher in the usual way. Adapted teaching for SEND pupils is not, on the evidence, a brake on attainment for the rest of the class — but it does require strong teaching, which is exactly what the white paper's training money is trying to buy.

What is not changing yet

Two things to keep in mind so you don't act on rumour:

1. EHCPs are not being abolished in September 2026. If your child has one, or is in the process of applying for one, the existing law still applies. Any structural change to EHCPs is not on the table before 2030.
2. The white paper is still being consulted on. The white paper was accompanied by a consultation on the SEND and wider school system proposals, which closes on 18 May 2026. Details may shift before legislation arrives.

The honest summary

September 2026 will not feel like a revolution in the school gate. The big visible changes — inclusion bases in every secondary, a uniform digital ISP for every SEND pupil, fully embedded staff training — will arrive over several years, not in one term.

What changes immediately is the framework. Your child's school will be working to a new four-tier model, drafting an inclusion strategy for December, and spending its share of the Inclusive Mainstream Fund. If you have a child with SEND, the most useful thing you can do this summer is request a meeting with the SENCO before the new term begins, and ask them to walk you through where your child sits in the new layers — and what the ISP, when it arrives, will say.

If your child needs targeted academic support outside of school while these structural changes bed in, a private tutor who understands the SEND framework can help bridge specific gaps — particularly in literacy and maths, where targeted intervention tends to make the most visible difference. But the first conversation is always with the school. They are the ones writing the plan.