Services for children with special educational needs and disabilities (Send) in England are to be “transformed”, with the introduction of new national standards and thousands more specialist school places, ministers have announced.
The long-awaited changes are being introduced to end the postcode lottery that families currently face and ensure that children and young people with Send get “high-quality, early support” wherever they live, the government says.
As part of its Send and alternative provision (AP) improvement plan, the government has identified local authorities in England where 33 new special schools will be built as part of the free school programme to try to ease pressure on special school places.
New national standards will be drawn up so families know what support they should receive, who will provide it and who pays. In addition, the process for assessing children and young people’s needs through education health and care plans (EHCPs) will be standardised and made digital-first.
Many in the sector were underwhelmed by the plan at first sight. Stephen Kingdom, campaign manager for the Disabled Children’s Partnership, said: “Parents have been waiting years for the government to fix the broken Send system, but the reaction of many to today’s plan will be, “Is that it?”.
