Government White Paper Education: government white paper education sets EHCPs for most complex SEND cases by 2035

The government has published sweeping changes to the system for children with special educational needs and disabilities in England, with the white paper declaring that education, health and care plans will be reserved for only the most complex cases by 2035. The reforms introduce new legal individual support plans for every pupil with SEND and carry multiple funding pledges — details that will shape support in schools over the coming decade.

EHCPs narrowed to the most complex cases and reassessments from 2029

The white paper states that, by 2035, education, health and care plans (EHCPs) will be reserved for only the most complex cases. EHCPs are legal documents that identify a pupil's needs and set out what support they should receive, and local authorities remain the bodies responsible for ensuring EHCPs are followed. The package also includes a requirement that from 2029 children will be reassessed for ECHPs as they move up to their next stage of education.

Government White Paper Education names individual support plans (ISPs) and three support layers

Under the reforms every child will have a legal right to an "individual support plan", or ISP. ISPs will set out a child's needs, what support they should receive and what the plan hopes to achieve, and nurseries, schools and colleges will be responsible for consulting with parents and drawing them up. EHCPs and ISPs will sit alongside three new layers of support for children with SEND — labelled "targeted", "targeted plus" and "specialist" — and the government says children should be able to switch between those layers if and when their needs change.

Multiple funding figures and new workforce promises for mainstream schools

The documents and speeches setting out the reforms include several funding pledges. The government says it will spend £4bn in mainstream schools over three years. Separately, politicians have set out that £1. 6bn will be spent over the next three years on ensuring the needs of children in mainstream schools are "identified early and met consistently", and a further £1. 8bn has been earmarked for "speech and language therapists, educational psychologists and wider professionals" to bring their work into schools. The plan also includes a new generation of Sure Start–style family hubs, each with an in-house SEND practitioner.

Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson, who spent Sunday and Monday unveiling the Department for Education’s sweeping changes to England’s SEND system, said the reforms will get support to children with SEND "when they need it, as routine and without a fight. " In the speech delivered on Monday she added: "Our moment calls for courage. Because before us sits a once-in-a-generation chance for change. "

County Councils Network and Bill Revans signal funding and tribunal questions until 2028

The County Councils Network (CCN), which represents 39 county and unitary authorities, many in rural areas, warned that "the devil will be in the detail" and that the proposals "represent a potentially radical overhaul. " The CCN's SEND spokesperson, Bill Revans, said proposals to "rebalance" the tribunal process "are correct, " but he added that further resources for councils will be needed to cover rising costs until the government takes over the funding in 2028. He said: "The timescales set out seem reasonable and immediate investment into mainstream schools to boost inclusion is important, but it remains to be seen whether the level of investment announced today is sufficient. "

Political context, diagnosis debate and a contested public conversation

Commentators have framed the package as a high-stakes, decade-long plan that is "generous in places, but... has its problems, " and warned it could be overturned by a future Reform government. The public debate has been heated: one column highlights the demonisation of disabled and vulnerable children and their parents and the spread of an "overdiagnosis" theory. A Facebook page seeking someone to speak about school budgets placed an ad asking for a "mum who’s concerned her child’s school budget is being spent on pupils with special educational needs" and asked whether there were "more important things you feel the school should be spending money on? For example … computers, sports equipment etc?" The fee offered in that ad was £150.

The white paper’s push for mainstream inclusion is linked in the commentary to earlier shifts under the coalition government when Michael Gove's approach coincided with a fall in the number of children with SEND in English mainstream schools by almost a quarter between 2012 and 2019, while the number attending special schools increased by nearly a third. That history, critics say, helps explain why the reforms’ emphasis on inclusion will meet resistance from some high-powered academies and free schools described as prioritising rigid discipline and a narrow focus on "attainment. "

Parents describe the current system as an "uphill struggle"

Amid the policy detail and political debate, one parent described the current SEND system as an "uphill struggle, " a note of strain echoed in warnings from councils about resourcing and in the various funding figures outlined in the plan.