Schools White Paper

On 23rd February 2026 the government published its school’s white paper – Every Child Achieving and Thriving. This paper sets out proposals to reform the special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) system in England.

Key Changes for SEND Support

1. New “Individual Support Plans” (ISPs)

• Schools will be required by law to create an Individual Support Plan for every child with SEND.
• Individual Support Plans will clearly set out the help a child will receive and will be developed in collaboration with parents.
• They aim to be simpler and quicker to put in place than the current system for most children.

Important to note: ISPs are a new statutory support plan, but they are not the same as an EHCP in terms of legal enforceability under current law.

2. Layers of Support

• The new system will start with a ‘universal offer’ for all pupils guided by new ‘national inclusion standards’
• Beyond that as a pupil’s needs change they can access ‘targeted’ ‘targeted plus’ or ‘specialist’ support
• The ‘specialist’ level is where a pupil will still require an EHCP

3. Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCPs) to change

• EHCPs will be reserved largely for those children the most complex needs.
• Children with current EHCPs won’t lose support immediately, existing plans stay in place until reviews happen at transition points for example, moving to secondary school.
• Every child with a special school place in 2029 will keep it if they want it until they finish education.

4. Funding and Specialist Support

• Additional funding for mainstream schools – all mainstream schools will receive additional funding for SEND to support services like speech and language therapy and small group interventions for children with additional needs.
• ‘Experts at Hand’ service – schools will be able to access expert support from specialists such as educational psychology, occupational health and speech and language. This support will be available to all children, even those without an EHCP.

5. Inclusion in Mainstream Education

The White Paper prioritises inclusion in mainstream settings where appropriate, with expectations that all schools develop inclusive approaches. It also proposes new standards and training to help staff better support pupils with additional needs.

What happens next?

There will now be a 12 week consultation period (closing mid-May 2026) for parents, carers and professionals to have their say. Only after this consultation would the proposed changes move to draft legislation which would then need to go through Parliament.

It is important to note that during this time nothing changes.

Click here to take part in the consultation