Government White Paper Education: Major SEND overhaul reserves EHCPs for most complex cases by 2035
The government has published plans to reform the special educational needs and disabilities system in England, setting out a government white paper education that will reserve education, health and care plans (EHCPs) for only the most complex cases by 2035 and create new legal rights and funding streams to reshape how support is provided.
Government White Paper Education: What changes for EHCPs and ISPs
Under the proposals, EHCPs remain legal documents that identify a pupil's needs and set out the support they should receive, with local authorities responsible for ensuring EHCPs are followed. By 2035 the government plans that EHCPs will be reserved for only the most complex cases. From 2029, children will be reassessed for EHCPs as they move up to their next stage of education, and the context notes the number of people with these plans has more than doubled in a decade in England.
The reforms also introduce new individual support plans, or ISPs. ISPs will set out a child's needs, what support they should receive and what it hopes to achieve. All children will have a legal right to an ISP, and nurseries, schools or colleges will be responsible for consulting with parents and drawing them up. EHCPs and ISPs will sit alongside three new layers of support labelled "targeted", "targeted plus" and "specialist", with the intention that children can move between layers if and when their needs change. Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson says the aim is to get support to children with SEND "when they need it, as routine and without a fight. "
Funding promises and detailed sums in the package
The proposals include multi-billion pound funding commitments. The government has set out a plan to spend £4bn in mainstream schools over three years. Separate figures in the context set out £1. 6bn to be spent over the next three years to ensure needs in mainstream schools are identified early and met consistently, and £1. 8bn set aside for speech and language therapists, educational psychologists and wider professionals to bring their work into schools. The package also envisages a new generation of Sure Start-style family hubs, each with an in-house SEND practitioner.
Local government reaction and financial timing
The County Councils Network, which represents 39 county and unitary authorities many in rural areas, warned that the "devil will be in the detail" and described the proposals as a potentially radical overhaul. The network reiterated that councils play a key role in SEND provision and are the authority responsible for ensuring EHCPs are followed.
The CCN's SEND spokesperson, Bill Revans, welcomed proposals to rebalance the tribunal process as "correct" but stressed further resources will be needed to cover rising costs until the government takes over funding in 2028. Revans said the timescales set out seem reasonable and that immediate investment into mainstream schools to boost inclusion is important, but it remains to be seen whether the level of investment announced is sufficient.
Public debate, critics and cultural context
Reaction in commentary is mixed. One headline framed the package as saying "Send overhaul won’t cut cost of supporting pupils for years. " A column by John Harris described Bridget Phillipson's 10-year plan as generous in places but argued it has problems, including the risk it could be overturned by a Reform government. The column also highlighted wider cultural tensions: the demonisation of disabled and vulnerable children and young people and their parents, and the prevalence of a crude "overdiagnosis" theory in public debate.
The column cited an example of a social media appeal that sought a parent willing to voice concern that a child's school budget was being spent on pupils with special educational needs, offering a fee of £150 and suggesting other priorities such as computers or sports equipment. It noted that Keir Starmer's government stands well away from that nastiness and that Bridget Phillipson spent Sunday and Monday unveiling sweeping changes at the Department for Education, emphasising an inclusive vision and increased spending. The context identifies 1. 7 million children currently classified as having SEND.
The column frames the reforms around a renewed push for mainstream "inclusion" intended to reverse a trend seen between 2012 and 2019, when the number of children with SEND in English mainstream schools fell by almost a quarter while the number attending special schools increased by nearly a third.
Voices from parents and unfinished threads
Parents are already describing the current system as an "uphill struggle, " and the package seeks to change how families interact with schools and local authorities through ISPs and new tiers of support. The context supplied here includes a longer column that is truncated in the available material and ends mid-sentence, leaving some commentary and argumentation unclear in the provided context.
This reform package sets out a detailed timetable and funding picture alongside significant structural change; councils and campaigners will now focus on the details of implementation, funding adequacy and how reassessment and legal rights will operate in practice.
