SEND reform: putting young children and young people first (easy read version)
Putting Children and Young People First
Making changes to SEND support in schools
Tell us what you think
About this easy read
This is an easy read of a long report by the UK Government.
It tells you about some of the main things in the longer report.
This easy read is still quite long. You do not have to read it all at once.
You might want to take a break, or just read the pages you want to.
You could ask someone to help you read it, if you need to.
What is in this booklet
Page 1 About SEND
Page 5 Support for children with SEND
Page 7 Our survey
Page 8 Why we need change
Page 12 Our plans
Page 21 What happens next
Page 24 How to have your say
Page 25 Our questions for you
Page 40 Keeping your information safe
About SEND
1 in 3 children and young people find it harder to learn than other children of the same age.
They may need extra support at nursery, school or college to do their best.
Nursery is for children aged 0 to 5.
School is for children aged 5 to 16.
College is for young people aged 16 to 19. But some young people stay at college until they are aged 25.
We say children and young people who need extra support to learn have Special Educational Needs and Disabilities. We call it SEND for short.
Some children only need a little bit of support. And some children need a lot of support.
Children and young people with SEND might be: • A 4 year old girl in nursery, who has not learned to talk yet.
She needs help to use a computer to tell people what she wants.
• A young boy who uses an electric wheelchair.
He needs school buildings and rooms to have wide doors and ramps.
• A 12 year old girl who finds it hard to concentrate and understand instructions.
She needs extra help in lessons. She works in a small group with other children and a teacher.
• A 17 year old boy in college, who finds it hard to read and write.
He needs a laptop and extra time in exams.
In this report we say children a lot.
When we say children, we mean children and young people with SEND.
Support for children with SEND
Most children with SEND get the support they need in a mainstream nursery, school or college.
Mainstream means a nursery, school or college that most children can go to.
Some children with SEND need a lot of support.
They might have a plan called an Education, Health and Care Plan. It is called an EHCP for short.
This plan says what a child or young person's learning, health and care needs are.
It helps nurseries, schools and colleges support people in the best way for them.
Some children need more support than a mainstream nursery, school or college can give them.
They go to places called Special Schools, Specialist Colleges or Alternative Provision instead.
These places only teach children who need a lot of extra support.
Our survey
The UK Government wants to change the way that SEND support works.
The changes will affect people in England.
The Government wants to know what you think about the changes.
This booklet tells you about the problems we have now, and the changes we want to make.
Then we have some questions for you to answer.
Why we need change
Over the last 3 months we have held events with over 8 thousand people.
Children with SEND and their families told us what they thought needed to change.
We did lots of things to find out what people think. Things like: • A survey that people could fill in on a computer.
• Webinars. This is a talk you can watch on a computer.
• Events across the country.
We listened to children, families, schools, charities, and lots of other people.
It helped us to learn more about why we need to change things.
Things people told us
Children and families feel let down.
It takes too long to get help.
Children with complex needs don't always get the help they need.
Complex needs means children who need a lot of support in different parts of their lives.
Other things we found out
Lots of children cannot get the support they need at their local mainstream school.
Some have to travel a long way to go to a school that meets their needs.
The number of children who need an EHCP is going up.
Children have to wait a long time when they try to get an EHCP.
Local councils have not been able to keep up with everyone who asks for one.
Too many young people with SEND do not stay in school or college after they are 16.
Schools find it hard to get extra help for children with SEND.
School staff have to spend a long time doing paperwork.
Schools need help to give children the right support.
Our plans
We want every local mainstream nursery, school and college to be able to support children with SEND.
Local means it is close to where you live. Your friends might live around there too.
We want more children to learn in local mainstream places.
It will give them more chance to find jobs and be independent when they grow up.
Independent means doing some things by yourself or with some support.
We also want really good special schools for children and young people who need them.
Support children as soon as possible
Nurseries, schools and colleges must help children with SEND, as soon as they need it.
Best Start Family Hubs
These are places in local areas. Families can go here for information and support.
The Hubs will help children and families in the years before they start school.
Different services will work together
Health, care and family services will work together to give children the support they need.
Including everyone
Mainstream nurseries, schools and colleges will get an extra £1.6 billion. This is to help them to include children with SEND.
Nurseries, schools and colleges will follow new National Inclusion Standards.
These are rules for schools and other services.
The rules will say what support schools and services should give to children with SEND.
Individual Support Plans
More children in mainstream places will not need an EHCP to get extra help.
They will have a new plan called an Individual Support Plan instead.
These plans say what support a child needs day to day in school. And what their school will do to help.
Individual Support Plans will help children to get the support they need quicker.
They will be written by people who know the child best. This will mean parents and teachers too.
Training about SEND for all staff
All staff in nurseries, schools and colleges will get training about SEND.
Information and help
Parents will get information and help about SEND. It will tell them how to get support for their children.
Experts at Hand
Children will get help from experts.
Experts are people who know a lot about something.
The experts will support them to learn and be independent.
This might be: • Educational psychologists. They help children to learn.
• Speech and language therapists. They support children with finding the best way to understand other people and say what they need.
• Occupational therapists.
They support children with doing
things in the best way for them.
Things like learning to hold a pencil or concentrate in a noisy classroom.
Specialist Provision Packages
Children with the most support needs will have something called a Specialist Provision Package.
This is a list of the kinds of help and support children with the most needs might get.
If a child needs some of the things on the list, they will get an EHCP.
The child will have a legal right to the things in their EHCP.
Legal right means the law says they must have it.
The child will have an Individual Support Plan as well. This will say what support the child needs day to day in school.
This might be things like needing physiotherapy every day.
Physiotherapy is exercises to help move your body.
Complaints
Making a complaint means telling someone you are unhappy about something.
Parents and carers can make a complaint if a child or young person does not get the support they need.
We will make it clear how parents and carers can make a complaint.
SEND
And we will make sure someone who knows a lot about SEND looks at the complaint.
This means that fewer parents will need to go to tribunal. A tribunal is like a court of law.
Parents can go to a tribunal if there is a problem with their child’s EHCP.
Things like if they are not happy about their child’s SEND support.
The tribunal helps to decide what is best for the child.
What happens next
We have already started making some of the changes.
Changes to how we support children with EHCPs will happen slowly over time.
From September 2029 We will start using new assessments for EHCPs.
An assessment is a check to see what someone’s needs are and what support they need.
By September 2030
The new way of using Individual Support Plans, EHCPs and Specialist Provision Packages will start.
The Children's Commissioner will check that all the changes are happening.
The Children's Commissioner is a person who listens to children.
They make sure that every child has a good life.
You can find out more about the Children's Commissioner here:
www.childrenscommissioner.gov.uk
It is not in easy read. You might want to ask someone to help you to read it.
Ofsted
Ofsted is an organisation. They send people called inspectors to visit nurseries, schools and colleges.
Inspectors look at nurseries, schools and colleges. They check how well they meet children and young people’s needs.
How to have your say
Now we have some questions for you.
Post your answers to:
Sendap Reform Sanctuary Buildings Great Smith Street London SW1P 3BT
Or email them to:
SENDreform.Consultation@education.gov.uk
You must send us your answers by: Monday 18 May 2026
Our questions for you
This easy read asks 12 questions about our plans for SEND.
The questions are about things that are most likely to be important to children, young people and families.
The long report about SEND has 39 questions. It has extra questions for people who work in councils, schools and healthcare.
If you want to answer the extra questions, you can find the longer report on this website:
consult.education.gov.uk/send- reform/
The questions are not in easy read.
Question 1: How can we involve children and families in making decisions about SEND support? Write your answer in this box:
Question 2: How can we make sure that all children with SEND get the support they need? Write your answer in this box:
Mental health affects your mind.
Things like your thoughts, feelings and how you cope in every day life.
Your mind controls how you think and feel.
Question 3: How can we support children with their mental health at nursery, school and college?
Write your answer in this box:
Question 4: What help do you think children and families need before they start school? Write your answer in this box:
We want nursery, school and college staff to have training about how to support children with SEND.
Question 5: What are the most important things they need to know to support children and young people well? Write your answer in this box:
An Individual Support Plan is about what support a child needs day to day in school. And what their school will do to help.
Question 6: How can we make sure that Individual Support Plans work well and families are happy with them? Write your answer in this box:
Question 7: How can we help young people with SEND to leave school and start college, work or university? Write your answer in this box:
An Inclusion Base is part of a school where children with SEND can get more support.
Question 8: How can we make sure that Inclusion Bases help children in mainstream schools? Write your answer in this box:
Children with complex needs need a lot of support in different parts of their lives.
Things like support with their health, moving around and telling people what they want and need.
Question 9: How can we make sure that children with complex needs get the right support? Write your answer in this box:
Question 10: How can we help children and families to choose which school is best for their child? Write your answer in this box:
Question 11: What information and help do children and families need about SEND support? Write your answer in this box:
Question 12: Is there anything else you would like to tell us about SEND support? Write your answer in this box:
About you
Please write your name in this box:
Write your email address in this box:
Can we use this address to email you about your answers?
Yes No
Tell us more about you.
Please tick 1 box
I am a child or young person
I am a parent or carer
Other. Please tell us more here:
Keeping your information safe
We follow the laws about keeping your information safe.
Information means things like your name, email address, and answers to the questions.
We will keep your information for 1 year after the survey ends.
Then we will delete it.
You can find more information about how we look after the things you tell us on our website:
www.gov.uk/government/ organisations/department-for education/about/personal information-charter
Why this page, not just a PDF? The original is a PDF - fine to read, but a poor fit for assistive technology: heading structure is often inconsistent or absent, text doesn't reflow for zoom or a narrow screen, and screen readers can struggle with multi-column layouts and scanned pages. This page is the same content rebuilt as plain, semantic HTML - real headings, text that reflows, nothing a screen reader or zoom tool trips over.
Republished from Department for Education under the Open Government Licence v3.0. View the original PDF.