There has been a lot of news about SEND reform this year, and it’s easy to lose track of what has actually changed. The short version: most of the reforms are still proposals, and nothing has changed in law yet. The current system, including EHCPs, still applies.

This guide separates what’s confirmed from what’s proposed, and sets out the questions that are still open.

Last checked: 4 October 2026. We’ll update this article when the government publishes its consultation response.

Who’s in charge now

Andy Burnham became Prime Minister in July 2026. Lucy Powell is Education Secretary, appointed on 20 July 2026, and Georgia Gould, Minister of State for Schools, leads the SEND reforms.

The plans themselves were announced in February 2026 by the then Education Secretary, Bridget Phillipson, in the Schools White Paper Every Child Achieving and Thriving (23 February 2026). Since the change of ministers, the timing of the next steps is less certain.

What’s confirmed

• The White Paper and consultation. The White Paper was published on 23 February 2026, and the SEND consultation, SEND Reform: Putting Children and Young People First, closed on 18 May 2026.

• The Inclusive Mainstream Fund. This is live: money reached schools in June and July 2026, and every school must publish an inclusion strategy by 31 December 2026. See our guide to the Inclusive Mainstream Fund.

• Early identification as a priority. “Early” is the first principle of the reforms. Two measures are confirmed: a new statutory Year 8 reading test covering fluency and comprehension, planned from the 2028⁠–⁠29 school year, and an ambition for 90% of pupils to meet the Year 1 phonics standard.

• A Bill has been announced. The King’s Speech on 13 May 2026 announced an Education for All Bill.

• An expert panel linked to the proposed Specialist Provision Packages (see below) was announced on 5 June 2026.

What’s proposed (not yet law)

• Four tiers of support: universal, targeted, targeted plus and specialist. The government says children won’t need an EHCP to get support up to and including targeted plus.

• Individual Support Plans (ISPs): a proposed legal duty on settings to keep a digital ISP for every child with identified SEN, reviewed every year with parents. The SENCo’s exact role in this hasn’t been set out.

• Changes to EHCPs: EHCPs would be kept for the most complex needs and tied to around seven national “Specialist Provision Packages”. The eligibility criteria haven’t been defined.

• Timing: the reformed system would start in September 2029, with no changes to EHCPs before September 2030.

What hasn’t happened yet

• No consultation response. The House of Commons Library’s September 2026 briefing noted that the government had not yet published its response to the main consultation, and we hadn’t found one when we last checked, on 4 October 2026.

• No Bill in Parliament. The Education for All Bill had not been introduced when we last checked, and no date had been set.

• More consultations. Follow-on consultations on education otherwise than at school (EOTAS) and an “inclusion formula” for upfront mainstream SEND funding closed on 18 September 2026.

The concerns being raised

Not everyone welcomes the plans. Organisations including Special Needs Jungle and the Disabled Children’s Partnership have raised concerns about how ISPs would be enforced, and about who would still be eligible for an EHCP if plans are reserved for the most complex needs. In February 2026, the Disabled Children’s Partnership, with Let Us Learn Too and SEND Sanctuary, published Support isn’t Optional: Why Every Child with SEND Needs a Legal Guarantee.

These are fair questions, and they’re among the things the consultation response and the Bill will need to answer. Until then, it’s worth reading the critiques alongside the government’s own documents.

At a glance

Here’s where each measure stood on 4 October 2026.

What this means for schools now

For now, the day-to-day legal framework hasn’t changed. But the direction of travel is clear on one point: earlier identification and more support in mainstream, without waiting for a diagnosis or a plan. Some practical steps make sense whatever the final detail:

• Make sure your Inclusive Mainstream Fund plans and inclusion strategy are on track for 31 December.

• Look at how you identify needs today, and how quickly you notice when a pupil’s needs change.

• Keep clear, consistent records of need and support. If ISPs go ahead, good records will make the transition easier.

• Keep families involved. Partnership with families runs through both the current system and the proposals.

If you’re reviewing how your school identifies needs, our guide to the role of screening, and when to bring in a specialist explains where screening helps and where it doesn’t.