The government has announced a £4 billion reform package to reshape support for children and young people with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) across England.

Set out in the Department for Education’s February 2026 white paper, Every Child Achieving and Thriving, the reforms aim to create what the government describes as “one education system for all children and young people, including those with SEND”. The programme will be introduced in phases between the 2026 to 2027 academic year and full implementation in 2028 to 2029.

The white paper positions SEND reform within a broader shift towards what it describes as a more inclusive mainstream system, strengthened specialist provision and clearer national standards for support.

The Case for Reform

The white paper outlines significant challenges within the current SEND system. It states that support has too often been inconsistent, delayed and dependent on statutory assessment routes. The increasing reliance on Education, Health and Care Plans over the past decade has, according to the document, shifted the system away from early intervention and a strong universal offer.

The government argues that outcomes remain uneven, with variation across local areas and provision types. The reform programme is therefore framed as a structural reset, designed to embed earlier identification, clearer entitlement and stronger national consistency.

The document also confirms that implementation will be carefully sequenced, with preparation beginning in the 2026 to 2027 academic year and full rollout expected by 2028 to 2029.

£1.6 Billion for Inclusive Mainstream Education

A central pillar of the reform is the creation of an Inclusive Mainstream Fund worth £1.6 billion over three years. This funding is intended to strengthen the ability of mainstream settings to meet common and predictable needs without requiring statutory escalation.

Alongside the fund, nurseries, schools and colleges will have a statutory duty to record and monitor SEN provision through Individual Support Plans. These plans are designed to create greater clarity around support being delivered and to improve transparency for families.

The white paper describes this as part of a broader ambition to integrate the SEND system more fully within mainstream education, rather than operating as a parallel structure.

“Experts at Hand” and Earlier Intervention

An additional £1.8 billion over three years will fund the new “Experts at Hand” service. This programme is designed to ensure that every local area has access to specialist expertise, including speech and language therapists, educational psychologists and other professionals.

The aim is to provide earlier, more flexible and more coordinated multi-agency support within mainstream settings, reducing reliance on formal statutory processes as the gateway to intervention.

The new service is intended to respond directly to these systemic concerns by increasing professional capacity at local level.

EHCPs and Specialist Provision Packages

Education, Health and Care Plans will remain for children with the most complex needs. However, the government intends to introduce nationally defined Specialist Provision Packages. These will set out clearer, evidence-based expectations of support and form the basis of future EHCPs.

This approach is intended to reduce regional variation and ensure greater consistency in entitlement across England.

Inclusion Bases and Capital Investment

In addition to reforming processes and funding structures, the government has committed £3.7 billion up to 2030 to improve accessibility, expand special school capacity and create tens of thousands of new places in inclusion bases within mainstream settings.

Inclusion bases are expected to provide specialist support within mainstream schools, enabling more children to access education locally while receiving targeted intervention. Over time, the government expects every secondary school to have an inclusion base, with a corresponding number of places in primary schools.

The white paper also confirms that Ofsted’s inspection framework will, for the first time, include graded judgements on inclusion, evaluating how effectively schools meet the needs of children with SEND.

Implementation and Next Steps

The reforms will be introduced through a phased approach, with consultation running alongside the white paper publication. Further statutory guidance and detailed implementation frameworks are expected to follow as the programme progresses.

The government describes the reforms as a generational shift designed to embed high standards and inclusion as complementary, rather than competing, priorities.

Summary

The £4 billion SEND reform outlined in Every Child Achieving and Thriving represents a significant restructuring of how support is funded, delivered and monitored across England. Through targeted mainstream funding, expanded specialist expertise, clearer national provision packages and strengthened inspection frameworks, the government has set out a phased transformation between 2026 and 2029.

The reforms aim to increase consistency, embed earlier intervention and strengthen inclusive mainstream education, while maintaining specialist pathways for children with the most complex needs.