Phillipson vows inclusion for Send children amid concerns over support reforms

Children with the most complex needs will keep their support plans under sweeping schools reforms, the Education Secretary has vowed amid concerns about some young people losing access to the help they need.

Bridget Phillipson pledged the Government will “take away that fight that so many parents” often face in accessing legally-guaranteed support for children with special educational needs and disabilities (Send).

As part of major reforms to the system set to begin from the end of this decade, the Department for Education has estimated the proportion of children with Send getting an education, health and care plan (EHCP) will start falling each year from 2030.

An EHCP is a legal document setting out the support children with Send are legally entitled to.

The current system “does not work”, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has said, insisting he wants the reforms under his Government to offer “a better education for every child”.

Children’s commissioner Dame Rachel de Souza has broadly welcomed the plans, but said “no child should fear losing their support” and said she will work with the Government and families “to make this a reality”.

Speaking at a school in Peterborough as she unveiled the Schools White Paper policy document on Monday, Ms Phillipson said: “Forget the misinformation you might have heard.

“EHCPs for children with the most complex needs will stay, guided by nationally-defined and evidence-based specialist provision packages.”

Pressed on concerns around children losing support, she said the Government will “take away that fight that so many parents have had over such a long period of time to get the support that should be much more readily available to their children”.

She said the reforms will allow access to earlier support for children as part of a £4 billion investment in the Send system in England to make it more inclusive.

Anna Bird, chair of the Disabled Children’s Partnership, said it is “deeply concerned about plans to restrict access to EHCPs to ‘most complex needs’, while leaving out which children it considers to have complex needs”.

The policy documents propose a new plan with a legal footing for all children with Send called individual support plans (ISPs), which have multiple tiers of support – targeted and targeted plus. Children will not need to have a diagnosis to access these.

The new system will be dependent on need, not diagnosis, Ms Phillipson told reporters.

“Some autistic children do need specialist provision,” she said. “For some children with autism, with the right level of support within mainstream they can thrive, can achieve.”

“This is dependent on individual need, not an arbitrary definition,” she added.

Children with the most complex needs will still have EHCPs, which will underpin new specialist provision packages.

Education Committee chairwoman Helen Hayes said she would be looking for “cast-iron guarantees that children’s rights will be strengthened through these reforms, not eroded”.

Assessments for the new system, which will be consulted on for 12 weeks, will start in September 2029 with no changes to current support before “at least September 2030”.

When the new legislation comes into effect, children with EHCPs will be reassessed at the end of their education phase and it will be decided whether they need a specialist provision package. If they do, a new EHCP will be developed.

Regardless of whether they have a new EHCP developed, the child’s school will have a statutory duty to draw up an ISP.

The policy document states that all children moving from an EHCP to an ISP will “retain the right to request a mainstream placement, and no child will move from a special school or college unless they choose to do so”.

The number of EHCPs issued has been soaring and stood at 638,745 as of January 2025 for young people aged up to 25, up from 353,995 in 2019, which has led to spiralling costs for councils and large deficits.

Under Government projections, around one in eight children with special educational needs and disabilities (Send) who currently an EHCP will transition to new plans between 2030 and 2035.

While the percentage of pupils with an EHCP is predicted to keep rising until 2029/30, the Department for Education (DfE) has estimated it will drop to around 4.7% by 2034/35.

This would be down from 5.8% currently for 2025/26.

Children in year three or above currently will keep their EHCP until at least age 16.

Those in year two or below will be reassessed when they transition to year seven.

Ms Phillipson said the plans will take children with Send “from sidelined and excluded to seen, heard and included”.

Schools watchdog Ofsted will monitor how schools are implementing ISPs, and where they are not meeting standards it could lead to new school management.

The DfE said it wants Send tribunals to be a “last resort”, but parents will still be able to appeal to a tribunal about an EHCP if they have a complaint about a council’s decision not to carry out an assessment of their child’s needs, or about whether their child meets the threshold for a certain type of support.

Challenges to ISPs will be through normal schools and local council complaints procedures.

Outside of Send, the Government had already announced a target to halve the disadvantage gap by the time the generation of children born under this Government finish secondary school.

Over the same time period, the DfE wants children from poorer backgrounds to achieve around a full grade higher in each of their GCSEs than they currently do.

The Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) said reforms would “ensure more children get help sooner – and that EHCPs are reserved for those with the most complex needs.”

Asked  how the Government will make sure there are enough teachers to deliver the reforms, Ms Phillipson said recruiting and retaining brilliant teachers and support staff is “absolutely critical” to delivering a more inclusive system.

She pointed out the Government has made progress towards its target of an additional 6,500 teachers, but admitted “there is more to do”.