Laura Trott: Ministers Promise 'Effective' SEND Support Will Not Be Taken Away as White Paper Nears
The government has vowed that "effective" support for children with special educational needs and disabilities will not be removed as ministers prepare a White Paper to overhaul the system, and the role of laura trott in the debate is unclear in the provided context. The document, due on Monday, comes amid rising costs in the SEND system, fresh proposals on assessments and new school-led plans intended to extend legal protections.
Bridget Phillipson sets out spending and transition plans
Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson has told broadcasters the government will be "spending more money", not less, on supporting children with SEND as part of a planned overhaul. She has emphasised that the reforms will include "a decade-long, very careful transition" from the current system, which she said "isn't working. " When directly questioned about the possibility of children losing existing support she stated, "We are not going to be taking away effective support for children. "
White Paper, EHCP reassessments and school-led ISPs
The White Paper due on Monday will set out the full details of the proposals. Leaks suggest that children with education, health and care plans — EHCPs, the legal documents that specify extra support — will be reassessed after primary school from 2029 as pupils move into secondary education. That change is expected to sit alongside an expansion of legal rights through school-led Individual Support Plans, or ISPs.
Under the proposals described so far, every child with identified special educational needs — including those who do not currently have an EHCP — would have an ISP drawn up by the school, and that plan would carry some form of legal status. Phillipson said the ISPs would have a legal "underpinning", creating "clear routes and clear principles set out in statute" to guide support.
All state schools will have to join trusts
The overhaul also includes structural change: all state schools will have to join trusts. The detail of how that requirement will operate is unclear in the provided context, but the directive is part of the wider package the government intends to present in the White Paper.
Families' experiences: May Race and her son Joseph near Winchester
The announcement arrives against a backdrop of acute parental anxiety. May Race describes her 12-year-old son Joseph, who lives near Winchester, as largely confined to his bedroom: "too anxious, burnt out and... traumatised" to join his family downstairs most days and no longer leaving the house. Joseph is autistic, has dyslexia and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and his autism is identified as pathological demand avoidance (PDA). Race says he has rarely been able to go to school since he was eight, now does not attend at all, and is too unwell even to meet professionals who might help.
Race attributes Joseph's worsening condition to what she sees as a SEND system lacking resources, flexibility and understanding. She says the system "does need reform" but warned that while the White Paper could improve things, "it could also make things worse. "
Numbers, pressures and ministerial assurances
More than 1. 7 million children in England were classed as having special educational needs in the 2024-25 academic year. The government has framed the reforms in part as a response to significant pressures: rising costs across the SEND system, schools coping with constrained resources, professionals managing large caseloads and local education authorities that have built up perilous levels of debt trying to fund provision.
Education minister Georgia Gould has added a specific assurance: children who already have specialist places and specified support will not lose them under the proposed changes. At the same time, ministers say children "will be reviewed in terms of their needs" — a process Phillipson noted should already be happening, pointing out the expectation that an EHCP is reviewed annually even though "that doesn't always happen. "
What makes this notable is the combination of commitments: a pledge to spend more alongside tighter review points, a legal status for school-led ISPs, a planned reassessment timeline from 2029 for pupils moving to secondary school, and a planned structural move requiring state schools to join trusts. The timing matters because the White Paper is imminent and the government has set a ten-year transition period for implementation.
Questions remain about implementation details and the involvement of individual politicians: the specific role of Laura Trott is unclear in the provided context and will need clarification when the White Paper is published on Monday.
