Government White Paper Education Signals EHCPs Reserved for Most Complex SEND Cases by 2035
The government has published a sweeping SEND reform that will reserve education, health and care plans (EHCPs) for only the most complex cases by 2035 and create a new, universal legal right to individual support plans for all children. The timing matters because reassessments begin in 2029 and councils face a funding handover in 2028, creating an immediate demand for resources and operational change.
Government White Paper Education: EHCPs and ISPs
The paper replaces the current approach by defining two distinct documents: EHCPs, the legal documents that set out the help a pupil is entitled to and which local authorities must ensure are followed, and new individual support plans (ISPs). ISPs will set out a child’s needs, the support they should receive and what that support hopes to achieve. All children will have a legal right to an ISP, and the child’s nursery, school or college will be responsible for consulting with parents and drawing the plan up.
Bridget Phillipson's 10-year plan and funding
Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson framed the changes as a long-term shift toward inclusion and earlier intervention. She said the reforms aim to get support to children with SEND “when they need it, as routine and without a fight, ” and closed a public unveiling with the line: “Our moment calls for courage. Because before us sits a once-in-a-generation chance for change. ”
The announcements included multiple funding figures: one government statement set out a plan to spend £4bn in mainstream schools over three years, while a separate breakdown commits £1. 6bn over the next three years to ensure needs in mainstream schools are identified early and met consistently, and £1. 8bn to fund speech and language therapists, educational psychologists and wider professionals to work in schools. A new generation of Sure Start–style family hubs is to include an in-house SEND practitioner in each hub.
County Councils Network and local authorities
The County Councils Network (CCN), which represents 39 county and unitary authorities, many in rural areas, described the proposals as a potentially radical overhaul and warned that “the devil will be in the detail. ” Bill Revans, the CCN’s SEND spokesperson, said proposals to rebalance the tribunal process “are correct, ” but he stressed councils will need further resources to cover rising costs until the government takes over the funding in 2028. He called the timescales reasonable and said immediate investment into mainstream schools to boost inclusion is important, while adding it remains to be seen whether the level of investment announced is sufficient.
Reassessment timeline, tribunals and caseloads
Under the timetable in the white paper, children will be reassessed for EHCPs from 2029 as they move up to their next stage of education, with the ultimate objective that by 2035 EHCPs are reserved for the most complex cases. The number of people with EHCPs has more than doubled in a decade in England, a trend the reforms aim to manage by shifting many children into ISPs and the new three-tier support structure—"targeted", "targeted plus" and "specialist"—with the ability for children to move between layers as needs change. The plan also signals proposals to rebalance tribunal arrangements connected to EHCP decision-making.
Mainstream inclusion, schools and public debate
The white paper places inclusion at its centre, aiming to reverse previous shifts toward specialist provision. Historical figures offered in the discussion note that between 2012 and 2019 the number of children with SEND in mainstream schools fell by almost a quarter while numbers attending special schools increased by nearly a third. That history helps explain why the government is prioritising a return to mainstream inclusion and why high-profile schools focused on strict discipline and attainment are expected to push back.
The national debate over SEND has been fractious. Commentators and campaigners have highlighted a public conversation that sometimes demonises disabled and vulnerable children and their parents, and the so-called overdiagnosis theory—claiming conditions such as autism and ADHD are exaggerated—has appeared widely in media commentary. A recent social-media recruitment effort sought a parent to appear concerned that school budgets were being spent on pupils with special educational needs, offering a fee of £150 and asking whether there were more important things the school should be spending money on, such as computers or sports equipment.
What makes this notable is the combination of an explicit long-term timeline—reassessments from 2029 and an EHCP ceiling by 2035—with immediate funding changes and political friction: the government is seeking to curb rising SEND costs while injecting targeted investment now, but councils and schools must adapt quickly during a transitional funding period that lasts until 2028. The broader implication is a major operational shift for local authorities, schools and families that will play out over the rest of this decade.
