What’s going on at the Department for Education? How can this be happening again? Even though we are all supposed to be in the middle of (checks notes) “the biggest national conversation about SEND in a generation”, it seems the only way national policymakers can share their intentions about a massive overhaul of SEND is via leaks from insiders to national newspapers (paywalled, read it free here), which the Government then distances itself from by saying:
“These claims are speculative and do not represent government policy proposals. We have launched the biggest national conversation on SEND in a generation, with plans being directly shaped by parents, the sector and experts who know the system best. That engagement will drive reforms that protect what families value and fix what isn’t working.”
Quote from the Times article, “Children ‘to lose right to Send support’ except in severe cases”
It prompted a second piece about the parent fightback, led by our campaign group, Save Our Children’s Rights.
We’ve been here before, unfortunately. In case it’s all a distant blur, here’s a quick recap:
The 2025 Schools White Paper debacle
Last March, the Guardian and Schools Week reported that a white paper on SEND reform was imminent. The Government’s “strategic SEND adviser”, Dame Christine Lenehan, told journalists that they were considering restricting EHC plans to children in special schools.
Dame Christine, via her previous role with NCB charity’s Council for Disabled Children, was also strategic SEND adviser to the previous Conservative government, which brought us the 2022 green paper.
Her comments in May 2025 had several results: First and foremost, it created enormous anxiety among parents of children and young people with SEND, who have now spent months worrying that their child can’t rely on receiving the support they need to thrive at school.
Second, it rang alarm bells for Labour MPs who, having already faced the prospect of cuts to disability benefits, exercised their power to say “no, we’re not having this”. They seem disinclined to nod through cuts to support in education for disabled children.
The ensuing backlash led to our campaign to protect children and young people’s right to an education that meets their needs. It culminated in an overflowing debate in Parliament, with MPs from all parties vowing to provide the support children and young people need – putting the brakes on the Department for Education’s plans. The Education Secretary, Bridget Phillipson then announced that the schools white paper would be delayed. She told the House of Commons education select committee—which published a comprehensive inquiry report in September saying children and young people’s legal rights must be protected—that there would be “a further period of co-creation”. It’s not yet clear which of the inquiry’s recommendations will be taken up, if any.
The nightmare continues into 2026
Now, in the first week of 2026, we’re back to where we were last spring: newspaper reports of the right to statutory support in education being slashed, and parents’ anxiety raised to new heights. And all of this during the festive period, when no one can get any answers about anything.
Whatever anyone may claim, this is NOT the fault of campaigners who have sounded the alarm about the implications for children and young people of calls for “SEND reform”.
In the absence of a clear statement of the Government’s intentions, parents and professionals have had to piece together what might be coming down the track from claims such as:
- Children and young people’s legal right to individualised support through a statutory Education, Health and Care (EHC) plan would, according to The Times, be scaled back for all but “the most severe and complex cases”. No one seems to know how those cases would be defined, beyond a general sense that decision-makers will know one when they see it.
- The threshold of eligibility for support would be raised, with ministers clinging to the hope that mainstream schools would become so inclusive, so well-attuned to understanding children’s special educational needs and how to meet them, that statutory support would be rendered unnecessary. But there is, so far, no commitment to investing in specialist teachers and therapists, only in buildings.
- Responsibility for decision-making would shift from local authorities to schools.
- And the route by which parents could challenge unlawful decisions about their child’s education? As clear as mud at this point.
Remember–these are from newspaper leaks; they are not official announcements.
A bumpy road ahead–if we act
This seems to be what ministers and their advisers want, but the path to get there hasn’t been as smooth as they expected (Parent campaigners, take a bow.)
They’ve realised, somewhat belatedly, that they need to talk to people at the sharp end: the families, teachers, therapists, and other professionals who support children and young people with SEND every day. In other words, those who have the best understanding of how the system works and what really needs to change.
Enter the national SEND conversation. Launched with fanfare in late November, with the white paper still due to be published early this year, the Government would like us to believe this is a genuine exercise in “co-creation”. Rather than, say, a bad-faith attempt to look consultative while all the major decisions about reform have already been taken and covertly briefed to the press.
To parent representatives who try to persuade the rest of us that it’s an exciting opportunity for involvement: I have a very sparkly bridge to sell you. The Save Our Children’s Rights campaign is open to everyone who wants to tell legislators what they think the Government’s priorities should be for SEND reform. See further down for how to get involved.
Where are the schools’ voices?
And where are mainstream schools in all this? Do school leaders fully comprehend what might be coming their way? Are they ready to take responsibility for deciding, providing, and resourcing special educational provision for children with a wide range of special educational needs? The success of this Government’s SEND reforms will, it seems, stand or fall by how well mainstream schools, as a whole, can rise to this challenge.
Without a solid framework of legal rights, children with SEND will be dependent solely on good intentions and at the mercy of local decisions. But reassurances can NEVER replace rights.
At this point, whether a schools’ white paper with detailed SEND proposals will be published this month, next month, sometime, or never, is anyone’s guess. While we wait for the next twist in this sorry tale of leaks, denials and promises, we will continue to do everything possible to help policymakers understand why the SEND system is in crisis and how it can be fixed.
What do we want?
Like everyone else, we want the system for supporting children and young people with SEND to succeed. It’s self-evident that things cannot continue as they are, with children and young people routinely being failed and losing the opportunity of an education.
However, the approach to policymaking we are currently seeing, with public opinion tested through crude leaks to the media, serves no one. It lacks transparency and integrity, and puts intolerable strain on parents and schools alike.
Much of what policymakers say they want to see in a reformed SEND system is already an integral part of the existing legal framework, were this to be fully and consistently implemented–including earlier intervention and more inclusive mainstream schools.
The law needs to be protected and strengthened, and some aspects of the SEND Code of Practice 2015 need to be tightened and updated. Above all, the law needs to be implemented everywhere, for every child and young person who relies on it.
What’s next from us?
Next week, on 12th January, representatives from our Save Our Children’s Rights team will hand in to Downing Street the petition to protect children and young people’s SEND rights that 132,789 of you signed. Don’t forget, that’s what kicked off the whole fight-back.
We will keep talking to MPs, and urge all of you to do the same.
- The charity IPSEA has a template email to MPs you can use, and anyone can contact their local MP to request a meeting to discuss your views and experiences of support for children and young people with SEND.
- You can register to join the campaign here
- If you want to join the SOCR community, we will soon be launching a WhatsApp community, so look out for that.
- If you are still intending to respond to the Government’s “Conversation” survey, here are our tips to help—you have until 14th January to do so.
- There are also several more online meetings from the DfE. Find out about that and more here, on our politics page. Here are some points to help you formulate your questions from Matt
- Sign up to the SOCR mailing list here
- Sign up to new post alerts from SNJ below or to our WhatsApp channel here
- A failure of Children and Families Act implementation does not mean rip it up and start again m’luds Catriona in 2022
- More system “reform” won’t fix SEND, because the real problem still hasn’t been accepted Catriona in 2024
- More from Catriona
Disabled Children’s Rights are Under Attack.
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Key Content
Also read:
Also read:
- What makes an autism assessment report genuinely useful to a school?
- Big ideas belong to everyone: Education, rights and lifelong learning for people with learning disabilities
- As The Guardian prints our joint campaign’s open letter, it’s clear people with lived experience don’t want to lose SEND rights
- How do you ensure pathways to education, health, and social care support, meet both diagnosis and needs?
- Researching flexi-schooling: How beneficial is it for children with SEND?
- Oops, we did it again… The Government must now listen to more than 100,000 people who do not want to lose SEND rights
- Experts at Hand: When is an occupational therapist also a SEND expert?
- Could using AI to filter Government consultation responses lead to “algorithmic silencing” of neurodivergent voices?
- A council’s “improvement journey”? How determined SEND parents catalogued the trail of their LA’s unlawful behaviour
- Research: Social networks in special schools. Friendships, bullying and play
- CrowdJustice SEND accountability: When the law says “must”, local authorities cannot treat it as “maybe”
- DfE must give its SEND reform Child Rights Impact Assessment a do-over; this time, without marking its own homework
What kind of government is “bold” enough to scrap statutory EHCPs from vulnerable children?May 16, 2025
The SEND reforms in the Schools White Paper reveal rights given, and rights stripped awayFebruary 24, 2026
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When her younger daughter was diagnosed with Rett Syndrome in 2009 shortly before her second birthday, Catriona found herself dealing in practice with things she’d previously thought she understood in principle.
She juggles her work as policy manager for a national charity with caring and advocating for her daughter. She's passionate about improving the lives of disabled children and their families, and making the systems that should support them work more transparently and equitably.
Catriona writes for Special Needs Jungle in a personal capacity, and all views expressed are her own.
- “Why would anyone in government think that was an okay idea?” #SaveSENDLegalRights - May 12, 2026
- The SEND reform reality check: Why experts’ and policymakers’ concerns are growing under scrutiny - April 15, 2026
- MPs warn “unsustainable” SEND transport system fails families with disabled young people - March 6, 2026
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