The Department for Education has pledged £70m for the reforms over the next two to three years to implement pilot projects centred around the plans in nine local authority areas “to implement, test and refine longer-term plans, including new digital requirements for local authority EHCP processes and options for strengthening mediation”.

• Special report: Social, emotional and mental health needs

• Analysis: SEND reforms consultation - five key issues the sector wants resolved

It adds that high needs funding for local authorities in 2023/24 will rise to £10.1bn, a 50 per cent increase on allocations seen in 2019/20.

The changes will also include a strengthened joint local authority inspection regime between Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission, according to DfE.

National standards for SEND and AP settings

In its report The Special Educational Needs and Disability and Alternative Provision Improvement Plan: Right Support, Right Place, Right Time, ministers lay out plans for a “transformation” of the current SEND system “underpinned” by new national standards “which will give families confidence in what support they should receive and who will provide and pay for it, regardless of where they live”.

The standards will be published alongside a guide for professionals “to help them provide the right support in line with the national standards but suited to each child’s unique experience, setting out for example how to make adjustments to classrooms to help a child remain in mainstream education”.

EHCPs

Further details of the government’s decision to go ahead with the digitisation of EHCPs, as proposed in the green paper published in May last year, are also included in the report.

Digitising plans will “improve parents’ and carers’ experiences of accessing support”, it states, adding: “The plan will cut local bureaucracy by making sure the process for assessing children and young people’s needs through EHCPs is digital-first, quicker and simpler wherever possible.”

New special schools

Another key measure set to be taken forward by government is the creation of thousands of places for children with SEND across 33 new special free schools.

Areas approved to build the schools are Central Bedfordshire; Isle of Wight; North East Lincolnshire; Wokingham; Birmingham; Bracknell Forest; East Riding of Yorkshire; Enfield; Leeds; Leicestershire; Middlesbrough; Salford; South Tyneside; Bath and North East Somerset; Cheshire East; Hampshire; Darlington; North Yorkshire; Somerset; Suffolk; Surrey; West Sussex; Wiltshire; Windsor and Maidenhead; Barnsley (joint with Sheffield); Blackpool; Bristol; Worcestershire; Hillingdon and Devon.

Wokingham, Birmingham and Cheshire East will each host two new free schools. The schools will be funded by £2.6bn pledged by government to improve capacity in both SEND and AP provision in the most recent Spending Review.

Workforce training

The creation of 5,000 early years special educational needs co-ordinator positions and 400 educational psychologists, covering a wide range of educational needs, is also included in the plans, as well as the development of an apprenticeship for teachers of sensory impairment by The Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education.

A new leadership-level special educational needs co-ordinator national professional qualification (SENCo NPQ) will be created, ensuring teachers have the training they need to provide the right support to children, according to the report.

Support for young people

Some £30m of £70m committed by government for the reforms will go towards developing “innovative approaches” for short breaks for children, young people and their families, providing crucial respite for families of children with complex needs.

“The programme funds local areas to test new services including play, sports, arts and independent living activities, allowing parents time to themselves, while their child enjoys learning new skills,” the report states.

Meanwhile, DfE will double the number of supported internship places by 2025, from around 2,500 to around 5,000, backed with £18m of funding to help young people make the transition into adulthood.

Alternative provision reforms

The report puts forward plans for a “new approach” to AP which will focus on preparing children to return to mainstream education or prepare for adulthood.

“AP will act as an intervention within mainstream education, as well as high-quality standalone provision, in an approach that meets children’s needs earlier and helps prevent escalation,” the report states.

An extension of AP specialist taskforces, which work directly with young people in AP to offer intensive support from experts, including mental health professionals, family workers, and speech and language therapists, backed by an additional £4.8m investment, is also highlighted in the report.

Claire Coutinho, minister for children, families and wellbeing, said: “For some parents of children with SEND, getting their child that superb education that everyone deserves can feel like a full-time job.

“The improvement plan that we are publishing today sets out systemic reforms to standards, teacher training and access to specialists as well as thousands of new places at specialist schools so that every child gets the help they need.”

The plan comes following a consultation by DfE on recommendations set out in the SEND and AP green paper which had around 6,000 responses.

Key concerns put forward in the responses included levels of funding put forward by government to implement reforms and inclusion of children with SEND in mainstream education.

You can read the full government response here: SEND and alternative provision improvement plan - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)