The SEND and alternative provision green paper has been published following the review into support for children with SEND which was first launched in 2019 before being blighted by delays.
A series of measures for both children and young people with SEND in mainstream education and those in alternative provision settings are laid out in the paper.
The creation of new national standards across education, health and care and a legal duty on councils to introduce “local inclusion plans” across early years, schools and post-16 education with health and care services are included in the measures, which builds on the schools white paper published yesterday (28 March).
Organisations supporting children with SEND and their families, education leaders and teaching unions have “cautiously welcomed” the paper but insisted the “devil will be in the detail and crucially the implementation” of the changes which will be subject to a 13-week public consultation.
Annamarie Hassall, nasen chief executive and chair of whole-school SEND, described the paper's publication as “a pivotal moment” adding “nasen will play a key role in mobilising members of the workforce to respond to the consultation”.
“This paper clearly recognises that we must urgently resolve the postcode lottery around securing an education, health and care plan (EHCP)," she said. "We need to simplify the EHCP process, making it more flexible, with less red tape and supporting parents and carers to make informed decisions without them feeling like they are regularly battling the system. By improving oversight and transparency, we will help drive better outcomes.
“It is also critical that we resolve the unequal funding for supporting pupils with SEND and for those with additional needs. This is currently leading to the rationing of vital therapeutic services, such as speech and language therapy or mental health support. Proposals to strengthen accountability across the education, health and care systems to make it more transparent and consistent will boost parent and carer confidence. We welcome this aspiration to make the right services available at the right time when they can make the biggest difference, regardless of where a young person lives,” Hassell said.
Jo Hutchinson, director at the Education Policy Institute, added: “Families have had to wait years for reforms to be delivered to the system for supporting children with SEND, with pupils with more complex needs being failed for decades.
"Many of the green paper proposals set out by the government today are to be cautiously welcomed. On paper, these reforms hold the potential to begin the task of building an inclusive system which intervenes early to prevent needs from escalating and provides similar services irrespective of which school a child attends or what postcode they live in.
"The devil will be in the detail and most crucially, the implementation. Families across the country will rightly only believe in better SEND provision when it arrives. For this reason, it is positive that the government intends to build national standards and accountability for services into its plans."
Steve Chalke, founder of the Oasis Charitable Trust, said he welcomed the “vision” set out in the paper but added that the government’s plans to improve support for children with SEND and those in alternative provision “will fail unless there is a big investment in both”.
“There is a pressing need for a new approach to high quality provision for these young people to enable them to achieve their full potential – but the government must make it clear how it will be paid for,” he added.
Mary Bousted, joint general secretary of the National Education Union, said that while the SEND green paper and schools white paper showed “clear desire by the Education Secretary to make announcements about how schools can respond to the pandemic”, school leaders, Sencos and school staff are “looking for actual support and proper recovery funding to help them remove barriers to learning and wellbeing, rather than new academic targets and more pressure from Ofsted”.
Jolanta Lasota, chief executive of Ambitious about Autism, said that proposals to introduce a new framework for banding of higher needs support “will need to be closely examined”.
“Autistic young people and their needs do not easily fit into a neat box or band,” she said, adding, “their needs may change over time for all sorts of reasons. Parents may also be wary about choosing from a ‘pre-approved’ list of schools for their autistic child, rather than looking for a school based on their child’s individual needs. We know that rationing in the SEND system does not work.
“We await further detail about these proposals and are ready to stand with autistic children and young people and their families, ensure their views and experiences are taken into account and if necessary, campaign alongside them to ensure their rights are protected.”
