Last reviewed: 1 September 2026. This page is kept up to date as the reforms progress.
The SEND White Paper is the government's plan to reform special educational needs and disabilities support in England. Published on 23 February 2026 as part of the schools white paper, Every Child Achieving and Thriving, it proposes a shift towards inclusion in mainstream schools, new digital Individual Support Plans, and a phased change to the EHCP system from September 2029.
That is the summary. The rest of this guide is for the people who have to live with it: SENCOs, headteachers and school leaders who need to know what the SEND white paper actually proposes, when anything changes, what the SEND Code of Practice still requires of schools today, and what is worth doing now rather than waiting for legislation.
One orientation note. This page is written for schools, but if you are a parent, the answers about EHCPs and the consultation apply to your child too: start with the frequently asked questions at the bottom. If you work in an early years setting, the same system applies with some differences in how the cycle runs day to day; our guide to the graduated approach and the assess, plan, do, review cycle, on the Boxall Profile® Online site, has a dedicated early years section.
The SEND White Paper 2026 at a glance
What it is: the SEND chapters of Every Child Achieving and Thriving, the Department for Education's schools white paper for England, laid in Parliament on 23 February 2026.
What it proposes: more children with SEND educated in mainstream schools, a new four-level model of support (universal, targeted, targeted plus and specialist), digital Individual Support Plans, and EHC plans reserved for the most complex needs.
What it is not: law. A white paper sets out proposals. The reformed system needs legislation and is not expected to take effect before September 2029, with no changes to existing EHCP support before September 2030 at the earliest.
What still applies: the SEND Code of Practice 2015. Every duty schools carry today, including SEN Support and the graduated approach, remains in force until the law changes.
Where it is up to: the main public consultation (SEND reform: putting children and young people first) closed on 18 May 2026 and the DfE is still analysing responses; no response date has been announced. Two follow-up consultations opened in July 2026, on upfront mainstream SEND funding (a proposed local SEND inclusion formula) and on education otherwise than at school, both closing 18 September 2026. A new Education Secretary, Lucy Powell, took office on 20 July 2026, so the timing of the government response now sits with a new ministerial team.
What actually changes this year
Three things are live now or land this year; everything else is years away and subject to legislation.
- Live now or this year: Ofsted already inspects inclusion, and its updated inspection toolkits take effect from September 2026. The Inclusive Mainstream Fund starts flowing to mainstream schools, colleges and early years settings in the 2026 to 2027 academic year.
- By 31 December 2026: schools receiving the Inclusive Mainstream Fund must publish an inclusion strategy for 2026 to 2027 on their website. That is a condition of the grant rather than legislation, and it is the one piece of reform paperwork with a date on it this year. Our guide to writing your school's inclusion strategy covers what it must contain and how to build it.
- Not before September 2029, and only if legislation passes: the new support levels, Individual Support Plans, and any change to how EHCPs work. No change to support received through an existing EHCP before September 2030 at the earliest.
The SEND reform timeline: what happens when
Nothing about a pupil's current statutory support changes yet. The Commons Library briefing is explicit that the current system remains in place until legislation takes effect. The table below shows where each stage sits as of August 2026, and which dates are confirmed as against proposed.
One note on the change of minister: nothing schools must do changes because of it. The practical effect is on the timing, and possibly the content, of the government response, which is worth watching if you are planning around the proposed dates.
What the SEND reforms propose
The case for change is blunt and the facts behind it are not disputed. EHCP numbers have risen sharply for a decade, local authority high-needs budgets are under severe pressure, and families too often fight for support through tribunals. The government, for its part, has described the reforms as a "radical expansion" of rights for children with SEND (the headline of the DfE announcement accompanying the White Paper, 23 February 2026). Whether the reforms deliver that is contested, but the proposals themselves are now clear. Here is each one, in practical terms.
A shift to inclusion in mainstream schools
The central proposal is that more children and young people with SEND should be educated in their local mainstream school, with support brought to the child rather than the child moved to the support. The White Paper frames this as every child having the right to attend their local school as part of their local community.
For schools, this is the proposal with the longest shadow. It means the definition of a good school is being rewritten to include how well it identifies, supports and evidences provision for pupils with additional needs, not just how well its cohort attains. Ofsted's renewed inspection framework already points the same way (more on that below).
A new four-level model of support
The White Paper proposes replacing the current two-category system (SEN Support, then an EHCP) with four levels of support: universal, targeted, targeted plus and specialist. Universal means high-quality adaptive teaching for all pupils. Targeted and targeted plus cover children who need more than the universal offer, with targeted plus involving more intensive or specialist-informed input. Specialist covers children with the most complex needs, who would hold a Specialist Provision Package alongside a continuing EHC plan (the package is the White Paper's proposed name for the specialist support at that level, its exact contents are still to be defined).
The intention is a smoother gradient of support, so escalation does not depend on winning a statutory assessment. In practice, the discipline schools already know from the graduated approach (assess the need, plan support, deliver it, review it against evidence) is what will move a child between these levels, whatever the levels end up being called.
What support looks like at each level
The levels are proposals, but a SENCO can already map real provision to them. Everything in the first three rows is provision schools run today under the Code; only the specialist package label is new.
| Level | Who it is for | What it looks like in practice, and the expected outcome | How it is evidenced |
|---|---|---|---|
| Universal | Every pupil | Adaptive whole-class teaching, predictable routines that give every pupil a safe base, and explicit whole-class teaching of social and emotional skills. Expected outcome: most pupils progress without additional intervention. | A whole-class baseline measure of social and emotional development, so emerging needs are visible before they escalate. |
| Targeted | Pupils who need more than the universal offer, identified from teacher observation and a below-benchmark baseline, with behaviour read as communication of underlying need | Small-group provision with defined entry and exit criteria and an agreed timescale: nurture groups, which carry an independent published evidence base, emotional literacy support (ELSA-style), structured social skills groups, and mentoring or counselling where the need indicates it. Expected outcome: measurable movement towards age-expected social and emotional development. | Individual assessment before and after the intervention shows what changed, pupil by pupil; in the Boxall Profile® Online, that is the same measure at entry and exit. |
| Targeted plus | Pupils whose needs persist despite targeted support. | More intensive, specialist-informed provision in mainstream: speech and language therapy input (language as a vital means of communication), educational psychology advice, an individualised programme delivered through a written support plan with named adults and targets. Expected outcome: specialist advice translated into day-to-day provision with a measured effect. | Plan targets are reviewed against reassessment, so the specialist input has a measured outcome; Boxall Profile® Online Learning Plans hold exactly those targets. |
| Specialist | Children with the most complex needs. | An EHC plan today, with legally enforceable provision. Under the proposals the EHC plan would continue, sitting alongside a Specialist Provision Package, potentially delivered in a special school or an inclusion base within mainstream. Expected outcome: provision matched to complexity and reviewed statutorily. | Like-for-like re-measures over successive cycles evidence provision and feed annual reviews. |
The organising logic behind that gradient is not new: it is the graduated approach applied at every level, with the intensity turned up as the evidence demands. The practice in every row is grounded in the nurturing principles schools already know. Schools running nurture provision will recognise the shape immediately.
Nurture groups also carry independent evidence alongside our own research. RSM's research for the Department of Education in Northern Ireland, dated July 2025 and published by the Department in January 2026, reported improvements in the Boxall Profile® scores of pupils in nurture groups in Northern Ireland primary schools, including improvements in attitudes and behaviours. The wider research evidence, it notes, shows that this should lead to a reduction in challenging behaviour and improved educational outcomes for the individual, their base class and the whole school.
Individual Support Plans and the future of EHCPs
This is the proposal generating the most questions from parents, and SENCOs need to be able to answer them accurately.
The proposal: children receiving enhanced support would have a digital Individual Support Plan (ISP) describing their day-to-day educational provision, created collaboratively with parents. Exactly who gets one is genuinely unsettled, and the ambiguity sits inside the White Paper itself. One passage ties ISPs to children receiving targeted or specialist support, while another commits settings to create ISPs "for any child or young person with identified SEND", and the government's own announcement used this broader framing. Only the consultation response or the legislation will settle the scope, and this page will be updated when it does. EHC plans would continue to exist, but reserved for children with the most complex needs where they would sit alongside a Specialist Provision Package, with the ISP carrying the day-to-day detail.
The transition: children with an existing EHCP keep their plan and its provision until they finish their current phase of education or choose to move to the new system. Under the proposed timetable, transition assessments begin from September 2029 and moves to the new system from September 2030, starting with pupils at the end of primary, secondary and post-16 phases.
What to tell parents now: no EHCP is being removed or rewritten today. Requests for EHC needs assessments continue under the current law, and any future transition is years away and subject to legislation that has not yet been introduced.
Ofsted and the inclusion accountability regime
The White Paper leans heavily on accountability. Ofsted's renewed framework – which made inclusion a graded evaluation area of inspection from November 2025 – is the enforcement arm of the mainstream inclusion agenda. For the first time, inspectors explicitly evaluate how schools set high expectations for pupils with SEND and put the right support in place. Updated inspection toolkits take effect from September 2026, and Ofsted will also work with the sector on how mainstream schools drive inclusion, including through inclusion bases. The White Paper commits to stronger scrutiny of pupil movement, including off-rolling (removing pupils from the school roll in ways that flatter results rather than serve the child).
Practically, this means that inclusion has moved from a values statement to an inspected, evidenced judgement. Schools will be asked to show how they identify need early, what support followed, and what difference it made. That is an evidence question, and it is answerable only if the school is measuring something. Our guide to evidencing inclusion for Ofsted, on the Boxall Profile® Online site, covers the evidence trail inspectors look for.
The money: Inclusive Mainstream Fund & Experts at Hand
Two funding streams matter most for mainstream schools.
The Inclusive Mainstream Fund provides £1.6 billion over three years from the 2026 to 2027 academic year, worth over £500 million per year across mainstream schools, colleges and early years settings. It gives settings direct responsibility over funding to deliver for pupils with SEND, rather than routing everything through statutory processes. How that money reaches schools is now itself under consultation. Upfront funding for mainstream schools, a proposed "local SEND inclusion formula", opened on 10 July 2026 and closes on 18 September 2026, and school leaders with a view on the mechanism should respond before then. For what the fund is, who receives it, what it can pay for and the 7 principles of inclusion that funded activity must map to, see our guide to the Inclusive Mainstream Fund.
The Experts at Hand offer commits £1.8 billion over three years to put specialist professionals, such as speech and language therapists and educational psychologists, into schools without requiring an assessment or referral: £1 billion for experts working directly with mainstream schools and £800 million to expand outreach from special schools and alternative provision. By the end of the 2028 to 2029 academic year, the White Paper says this equates to around 40 days of annual specialist support for a typical primary school and 160 days for a typical secondary.
Alongside these sit a SEND training programme of over £200 million for staff development, and capital investment to create a further 50,000 new specialist places, including inclusion bases in mainstream schools, by 2029 to 2030. That is on top of the 10,000 places already being created in 2025 to 2026, so over 60,000 in total.
One reassurance worth stating plainly, because it is the question behind most funding worries: these are additions, routed more directly to settings. The proposals do not remove the support children currently receive, and provision under an existing EHCP is protected until at least September 2030.
National Inclusion Standards
By 2028 the government plans to invest up to £15 million to build the evidence base and then provide National Inclusion Standards: a digital library of high-quality identification tools and provision covering every level of support for children with SEND. The stated aim is that by 2028 these standards guide how schools meet children's needs, giving mainstream settings a shared reference point for what good identification and support look like at each level. Which tools and approaches the standards will include has not been announced. Schools already using a structured, benchmarked measure are not exposed either way, because the evidence trail it produces is the same one the current Code requires today.
The SEND Code of Practice: what applies right now
The SEND Code of Practice 2015 is the statutory guidance that governs special educational needs support in England today. Nothing in the White Paper has changed it. Until new legislation passes and a revised code is issued, every duty below remains in force, and it is the Code, not the White Paper, that schools are inspected and held to account against.
What the SEND Code of Practice is
The SEND Code of Practice: 0 to 25 years (2015) is statutory guidance issued under the Children and Families Act 2014. It explains the duties of schools, local authorities and health bodies towards children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities from birth to 25. Statutory guidance means organisations "must have regard" to it. As the Code itself explains, where the text uses "must" it refers to a statutory requirement, and where it uses "should" the guidance must be considered and those who must have regard to it are expected to explain any departure from it.
What the SEND Code of Practice covers
The Code defines a child or young person as having special educational needs if they have a learning difficulty or disability which calls for special educational provision: provision different from, or additional to, what is normally available to pupils of the same age.
Across its chapters the Code covers the principles underpinning the system:
- Impartial information, advice and support for families
- Joint working between education, health and care
- The Local Offer every local authority must publish
- The specific duties of early years settings, schools and further education
- SEN Support and the graduated approach
- EHC needs assessments and plans
- How disagreements are resolved, including mediation and the SEND Tribunal.
If a question about SEND support arises in a school today, the answer sits somewhere in those chapters, not in the White Paper.
Who must follow the SEND Code of Practice
The Code applies to local authorities, maintained schools, academies and free schools, maintained nursery schools, further education colleges and sixth form colleges, early years providers, pupil referral units and alternative provision, and NHS commissioning bodies. For a school, the duties fall in practice on the governing body or trust, the headteacher, the SENCO and every classroom teacher. The Code is clear that SEN provision is not a separate department: every teacher is a teacher of pupils with SEND, responsible for the progress of the pupils they teach.
The four broad areas of need
The Code groups special educational needs into four broad areas, and schools use them to describe a pupil's primary need:
- Communication and interaction, including speech, language and communication needs and autism.
- Cognition and learning, from moderate learning difficulties through to profound and multiple learning difficulties, and specific learning difficulties such as dyslexia.
- Social, emotional and mental health (SEMH), covering needs that show themselves as withdrawal, anxiety, low mood or challenging behaviour. Behaviour is treated as a communication of underlying need, not a need in itself.
- Sensory and/or physical needs, including vision and hearing impairment and physical disability.
The areas describe need, not children: many pupils have needs across more than one area, and the Code expects schools to consider the whole child. SEMH is consistently the hardest of the four to evidence, because social and emotional development is not visible in attainment data. It is measurable, though: the Boxall Profile® Online exists precisely to measure and track social and emotional development against benchmarked norms, so a pupil's SEMH can be evidenced with data rather than described anecdotally.
SEN support and the graduated approach
Where a pupil is identified as having SEN, the Code requires schools to put them on SEN Support and to follow the graduated approach, a repeating four-stage cycle of assess, plan, do, review. The school assesses the pupil's needs, plans outcomes and support with the pupil and their parents, delivers that support, then reviews progress against the starting point. Each cycle sharpens the school's understanding of what works.
This cycle is the engine room of the entire SEND system today and under any reformed system. It is the evidence trail that supports an EHC needs assessment request now, and it is the same discipline that would move a child between support levels under the White Paper's proposals. Our full guide to the graduated approach and the assess, plan, do, review cycle on the Boxall Profile® Online site walks through each stage, who is responsible for what, and how to keep records that stand up to scrutiny.
Education, health and care plans (EHCPs)
For children and young people whose needs cannot be met from the resources ordinarily available at SEN Support, the Code provides for an EHC needs assessment, which the school or the parents can request from the local authority. Where the authority agrees a plan is necessary, the EHC plan sets out the child's needs, the provision required to meet them and the outcomes sought, and it is legally enforceable. The overall process from request to a final plan is subject to a 20-week statutory time limit, and plans must be reviewed at least annually.
Evidence matters here too: local authorities routinely ask to see recorded assess, plan, do, review cycles before agreeing to assess, which is another reason the graduated approach paperwork is worth doing well the first time.
How the White Paper proposes to change the Code
The White Paper commits to updating the Code of Practice as part of the reforms with:
- A stronger emphasis on an evidence-based, support-first approach
- A requirement for all schools to ensure staff receive training on SEND and inclusion
- A refresh of the current four broad areas of need, which the White Paper describes as often unclear and inconsistently applied, replacing them with new areas of development.
None of this has happened yet, and the 2015 Code applies unchanged until a revised code is issued. For schools that measure social and emotional development, the labels may change but the job does not: whatever the new areas of development are called, the evidence trail behind identifying a need and showing what the support achieved is the same one the current Code requires.
How the White Paper and the Code fit together
Keep the two documents in separate mental boxes:
- The SEND Code of Practice 2015 is the law of today. It is statutory guidance in force. SEN Support, the graduated approach, the four areas of need and the EHCP process all continue exactly as before.
- The White Paper is a proposal about tomorrow. It has no statutory force. Its reforms need legislation, and the reformed system is not expected before September 2029.
A revised code of practice is an explicit commitment of the White Paper (see above), but no draft exists yet, and the 2015 Code applies in full until one is issued. Any school rewriting its SEN policy around ISPs or support tiers in 2026 is ahead of the law, and any parent told their EHCP is being phased out this year has been misinformed.
What schools should do now
Waiting for legislation is not the same as doing nothing. Everything below is worth doing on its own merits under the current Code, and each one also positions the school for the reformed system, whatever its final shape. The consistent theme of the White Paper is that schools will be asked to evidence inclusion, not assert it.
Keep the graduated approach running properly. Complete, recorded assess, plan, do, review cycles are the currency of the current system and the obvious foundation of any future ISP. If cycles are being run but not recorded, fix the recording first.
Put a benchmarked SEMH baseline in place. SEMH is the area of need where schools most often lack defensible data, and it is central to the inclusion agenda. The Boxall Profile® Online measures social and emotional development against benchmarked norms, giving every cycle a like-for-like starting point. Measure at the assess stage, re-measure at review, and the difference is your evidence. At whole-school level the same measure can be taken: whole-class and group assessments, data exports, comparison across two assessment periods, and the School Snapshot for patterns across cohorts or the whole school.
Publish your inclusion strategy by 31 December 2026 if you receive the Inclusive Mainstream Fund. It is a condition of the grant, it must set out the barriers in your cohort, the funded activity with costs, the intended outcomes, and a review of the previous year. It is far easier to write from recorded assess, plan, do, review cycles and a measured baseline than from scratch. Our guide to writing your school's inclusion strategy walks through the five steps.
Audit your inclusion evidence before Ofsted asks for it. From September 2026 the updated inspection toolkits take effect. Walk the inspector's path now: for a given pupil with SEND, can the school show when need was identified, what support followed, and what changed? Our guide to evidencing inclusion for Ofsted on the Boxall Profile® Online site, sets out that evidence trail at whole-school level.
Get your SEND records digital and portable. ISPs are proposed as digital documents built from the school's own assessment and review records. Schools whose SEN Support records already live in structured, exportable systems rather than in Word files will find any future transition administrative rather than traumatic.
Brief your staff and governors on the reform timeline. Every teacher will field parent questions about EHCPs. The accurate answers: nothing changes today, transition would not begin before September 2029, and existing plans carry on. Governors should know that inclusion is now an inspected judgement and see the evidence base at least annually.
Have your say before 18 September 2026, about two weeks into the autumn term. Two follow-up consultations close at 11:59pm on 18 September 2026. The funding one decides how SEND money reaches your budget: Upfront funding for mainstream schools: creating a local SEND inclusion formula. The other matters if you place pupils in education otherwise than at school: SEND reform: education otherwise than at school. Both are open to schools as well as parents. The government's response to the main consultation will then confirm which proposals proceed and on what timetable. This page will be updated when it lands.
Ready to put the evidence in place? Measuring is where inclusion evidence starts: the Boxall Profile® Online, nurtureuk's assessment tool, is free to try for 30 days. Start your free trial.
And if targeted support is the gap, our Theory and Practice of Nurture Groups training is the three-day route to running provision with a published evidence base behind it.