Send White Paper 2026 sparks row over investment, inclusion and parental rights
The send white paper 2026 lays out a £4 billion shake-up of support for children with special educational needs and disabilities, promising new funds, specialist services and mainstream inclusion — and prompting criticism from a teachers union and commentators who warn the plan could be vulnerable to a change of government.
Major spending commitments and new services
The government’s package includes a headline £4 billion investment to "make every school truly inclusive, " delivered alongside a schools white paper titled Every child achieving and thriving. The plan funds an Inclusive Mainstream Fund of £1. 6 billion over three years to support early years, schools and colleges, and an Experts at Hand service investing £1. 8 billion over three years to create local banks of SEND teachers, speech and language therapists and other specialists that schools can draw on, regardless of whether a child has an education, health and care plan (EHCP).
What the money will buy in classrooms
Officials say the Inclusive Mainstream Fund will pay for targeted interventions such as small-group language support, and work to help staff identify commonly occurring needs and introduce adaptive teaching styles. The Experts at Hand service is framed as an on-demand resource to bring speech and language therapists, educational psychologists and wider professionals into schools and local areas.
Send White Paper 2026 and the wider reform package
The investment is presented alongside an ambition to end a one-size-fits-all approach, build on training for every teacher and create 60, 000 new specialist places. It also sits on top of a record increase for high-needs funding: a £3. 5 billion uplift in 2028 to 2029 over and above Autumn Budget 25 funding, which officials say paves the way for generational reforms to the SEND system.
Political and public reactions
Bridget Phillipson spent Sunday and Monday unveiling sweeping changes to England’s system for children with special educational needs and disabilities, emphasising increased spending, earlier identification and a kinder education system for the 1. 7 million children currently classified as having SEND. Her speech closed with the line: "Our moment calls for courage. Because before us sits a once-in-a-generation chance for change. "
Not everyone welcomed the plan. A teachers union hit out at Keir Starmer’s special needs spending plan, branding it "ridiculous, " and some commentators argue the 10-year plan is generous in places but has problems — including the risk it could be trashed by a Reform government. Those critics also warned of tensions between a mainstream-inclusion push and high-powered academies and free schools that favour rigid discipline and a narrow focus on attainment.
Concerns about public debate and parental experience
Commentary accompanying the proposals highlighted a wider national conversation that has at times demonised disabled children, young people and their parents, pointing to what it called a crude "overdiagnosis" narrative that treats conditions such as autism and ADHD as exaggerated. A social-media recruitment post seeking a "mum who's concerned her child's school budget is being spent on pupils with special educational needs" even offered a £150 fee to anyone willing to speak to the media.
The government’s national SEND conversation — described as having included ministers speaking with parents and teachers around the country, and evidence gathered by the Education Select Committee and expert reports — is said to have returned the most consistent complaint: that SEND support is often provided too late and only after a fight. The reforms aim to rebuild parental confidence by putting inclusion at the heart of every school and ensuring support is available where and when children need it.
Where this leaves schools and families next
The white paper and the £4 billion investment are set out as the next formal steps in delivering mainstream inclusion, more local specialist capacity and direct funding for schools and colleges. Officials also plan a new generation of Sure Start-style family hubs, each with an in-house SEND practitioner. Critics warn the changes face political risk and implementation challenges, while proponents point to the combined funding, teacher training and specialist places as the building blocks intended to end the postcode lottery of SEND support.
Next on the schedule is the rollout of the Inclusive Mainstream Fund and the Experts at Hand service over the coming three years, alongside the wider schools white paper measures and the increased high-needs funding pledged for 2028 to 2029.
