Thousands of children with special educational needs and disabilities in Exeter are set to gain new legal rights to personalised support in schools under sweeping reforms unveiled by the Government.
Under the proposals, every child identified with SEND will be entitled to an Individual Support Plan (ISP), a change ministers say will end the “one size fits all” approach that has left many families struggling to secure help.
The reforms, backed by £4 billion of national investment, aim to make mainstream schools more inclusive. Schools will be placed under a new legal duty to create ISPs for all children with SEND, drawing on a national framework of support and tailored by teachers and specialists.
Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCPs) will be retained and strengthened for children who need more intensive or complex provision. A set of transitional protections has also been announced.
Any child with a special school place in 2029 will be able to keep it until they finish their education if they choose. For children in mainstream education with an EHCP who may in future move to an ISP, transitions will not begin until 2030 and only as pupils naturally move between phases, such as from primary to secondary school. ISPs will be prepared in advance to ensure there is no break in support.
Mainstream settings, including those in Exeter, will gain greater access to specialist services such as speech and language therapists and educational psychologists. Backed by £1.8 billion of new funding, the Government says that by 2029 this will equate to an average of 40 days of specialist support per primary school and 160 days per secondary school.
Steve Race, MP for Exeter, said: “I’m determined that a child’s background shouldn’t dictate where they end up, but too many children with SEND in Exeter have been held back by an education system that doesn’t work for them.
“The SEND system, designed a decade ago for a small number of children, is now at breaking point after ten years of Tory rule. That’s led to parents having to fight tooth and nail for entitlements on paper – that doesn’t necessarily deliver the additional support in practice. This has meant that children’s lives and life chances have suffered.
“This is an issue of massive importance for families in Exeter. From my conversations on the doorstep, the roundtables I have held for parents and professionals, and the dozens of families whom I have supported in the SEND system, there’s no doubt that the system needs to change.
“Today’s plans will take children with SEND from sidelined to seen, heard and included. Every child will get the brilliant support they deserve, when they need it, as routine and without a fight.
“Already this year, the Government has written off Devon’s £180m SEND deficit and announced £200m of training to make sure staff in every school, college and nursery are equipped to support all the children in their care.
“I’m pleased that this Government is getting on with the job of fixing the broken SEND system so that every child can achieve and thrive at school and build a brighter future.”
The proposals are set out in a White Paper outlining a decade-long plan to create what ministers describe as a sustainable and inclusive SEND system.
Further measures include digitising EHCPs and ISPs to reduce bureaucracy, updating the school complaints process to include an independent SEND expert on panels where disputes arise, and introducing Specialist Provision Packages to improve consistency of support across the country.
Independent special schools will be brought under a new regulatory regime to ensure they deliver the support set out in specialist packages at a fair and reasonable price.
Parents in Exeter and across the country will retain the right to appeal decisions to the SEND Tribunal, including whether a child should be assessed for a specialist provision package, which package they should receive and which school they should attend.
Ministers say the changes, alongside a £1.6 billion inclusion grant and £3.7 billion to create more than 60,000 additional specialist places, are designed to ensure families can send their child to a local school with confidence that appropriate support will be in place.
