- IPPR Inclusion Taskforce will be chaired by education leader
Geoff Barton
- Independent taskforce is being convened by IPPR to develop
recommendations for reform of the broken SEND system.
- Panel will publish recommendations in mid-autumn
2025
A new taskforce has been launched
today to review and improve how children and young people with
special education needs and disabilities (SEND) are supported
across England.
The IPPR Inclusion
Taskforce, chaired by Geoff
Barton, former general secretary of the Association of School and
College Leaders, will bring together leading experts in
education, health and local government to set out a positive new
vision with proposals for how the system can be reformed. This
comes ahead of a government White Paper expected in autumn that
will set out reform proposals.
The group will examine the
current state of SEND provision and set out principles that
should guide reform of the system to ensure that every child
receives the support they need to thrive. Members will
be announced in the coming
weeks.
One in five children are now
identified with special educational needs, equivalent to
six children in every classroom.
Support for the most complex types of needs – delivered through
Education Health and Care Plans – has doubled since 2014. Critics
of the current system say it is lose, lose, lose for children,
families and professionals. Children with SEND continue to have poor outcomes, the
system is adversarial for families and impractical and
bureaucratic for professionals to
navigate.
Geoff Barton, chair of the
IPPR Inclusion Taskforce,
said:
"Too many families face a daily
struggle to get the right support for their children. This
taskforce will bring fresh thinking and a clear focus on
delivering the change that's urgently needed to make our
education system work for every
child."
“After 15 years leading a state
school and then a national education union, I know how complex
and challenging the SEND system can be - for families, for
schools, and most of all for the children it is supposed to
support. Too often, getting the right help takes too long, feels
too hard, and leaves young people feeling left out. We must do
better on their behalf.
“I am proud to chair this
taskforce to help shape a system that works for every child, and
to ensure no one is left
behind.”
Ellie Harris, IPPR Inclusion
Taskforce lead, said:
“We all know a child in our life
who is struggling at school – a friend's kid, a family member, or
a colleague's child – we cannot allow this to continue. Support
should not be slow, patchy, and locked behind bureaucratic
hurdles. We need meaningful education reform to make sure that
all children are supported at school to belong, achieve and
thrive.”
ENDS
NOTES TO
EDITORS
-
1. More information about the
independent IPPR Inclusion Taskforce, chaired by Geoff Barton,
including its terms of reference, will be available on IPPR's
website.
-
2. Geoff Barton was previously an
English teacher (for 32 years), headteacher of a Suffolk
comprehensive school (for 15 years), and General Secretary of
the Association of School & College Leaders (for 7 years).
Most recently he chaired the independent Commission for Oracy
in Education, designed to promote speaking skills alongside
reading, writing and arithmetic as ‘the fourth R'. He was
awarded the CBE in the 2025 New Year's honours list for
services to education.
-
3. Figures in this press release are
drawn from:
-
Department for Education data
on Special Educational Needs
at https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/special-educational-needs-in-england/2024-25
-
Children's Commissioner data
on children's mental health at https://www.childrenscommissioner.gov.uk/news-and-blogs/press-notice-childrens-commissioner-calls-for-urgent-action-to-tackle-waiting-times-and-inequality-in-mental-health-care-for-children/
