Government White Paper Education: Major SEND overhaul shifts EHCPs to most complex cases by 2035
The government white paper education has laid out a sweeping plan to reform special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) support in England, with education, health and care plans (EHCPs) to be reserved for only the most complex cases by 2035 and a new system of individual support plans (ISPs) to be available to all pupils.
Government White Paper Education: what the plan will change
The central change is that EHCPs, legal documents that identify a pupil's needs and set out the support they should receive, will be limited to the most complex cases by 2035. From 2029, children will be reassessed for EHCPs as they move up to their next stage of education. Local authorities remain the bodies responsible for ensuring EHCPs are followed.
New ISPs and three-tier support model
Under the new vision every child with SEND, including those who do not hold EHCPs, will have an individual support plan (ISP). ISPs will set out a child's needs, the support they should receive and the outcomes the plan hopes to achieve. All children will have a legal right to an ISP, and their nursery, school or college will be responsible for consulting with parents and drawing the plan up.
EHCPs and ISPs will operate alongside three new layers of support labelled "targeted", "targeted plus" and "specialist". The plan says children should be able to move between these layers if their needs change. Those terms will be central to families and practitioners working out how they will be affected.
Funding pledges, timescales and cost concerns
The documents in the white paper include multiple funding commitments: a stated £4bn to mainstream schools over three years, plus distinct allocations aimed at supporting frontline professionals. The plan sets out a £1. 6bn package over the next three years to ensure needs in mainstream schools are identified early and met consistently, and a further £1. 8bn to bring speech and language therapists, educational psychologists and wider professionals into schools. A new generation of Sure Start–style family hubs will each include an in-house SEND practitioner.
Despite those headline figures, a separate assessment signalled that the SEND overhaul will not cut the cost of supporting pupils for years, reflecting a longer-term ambition to bring rising SEND costs under control while investing now to save later. Councils and campaigners have already flagged that the timeline for funding transition will be critical: central funding is set to take unilateral responsibility in 2028, and councils say they will need further resources to cover rising costs until that point.
Local government, tribunals and practical delivery
The County Councils Network, representing 39 county and unitary authorities, many in rural areas, called the proposals a potentially radical overhaul and warned the devil will be in the detail. Its SEND spokesperson, Bill Revans, endorsed proposals to rebalance the tribunal process as correct but emphasised that immediate investment into mainstream schools is important and that it remains unclear whether the announced level of investment is sufficient. The spokesperson described the timescales set out as reasonable but stressed councils will require extra resources ahead of the central funding change.
Political context, public mood and parental concerns
The Education Secretary has framed the changes as delivering support "when they need it, as routine and without a fight, " and the plan has been presented as a long-term, ten-year redesign. The 10-year plan is praised as generous in places but criticised for retaining significant risks; one immediate political worry is that the programme could be undone by a future government. Commentary on the national conversation highlights a worrying strand of demonisation of disabled and vulnerable children and their parents, and the resurgence of an "overdiagnosis" theory that suggests conditions such as autism and ADHD are exaggerated. A social media recruitment for media contributors recently looked for a parent claiming school budgets are being diverted from items like computers and sports equipment, offering £150 for participation.
The documents cite 1. 7 million children currently classified as having SEND and note historical shifts in provision: between 2012 and 2019 the number of children with SEND in mainstream schools fell by almost a quarter while the number attending special schools increased by nearly a third. Proponents argue the reforms aim to promote mainstream inclusion and kinder school cultures, while critics predict pushback from high-profile academies and free schools focused on strict attainment models.
What to expect next
Implementation will require detailed local planning, additional resources in the near term, and clarity about reassessment from 2029 and the transition to new funding arrangements in 2028. The pledge of extra staff and family hubs is designed to build capacity, but questions about sufficiency, tribunal changes and delivery in rural areas remain. Recent updates indicate these details may evolve as the programme is translated into operational guidance and local budgets are adjusted.
