Some background briefing points from the DfE on LA accountability
and SEND
Zero tolerance approach to councils failing
families
- The government is setting out a zero-tolerance approach to
local authorities, schools and other agencies that fail children
with special educational needs and disabilities, backed by the
most ambitious reform of the SEND system in a generation.
- Councils have been operating within a broken system that is
not delivering the outcomes families deserve. That's why we have
acted first to stabilise the system, including writing
off90% of local authority SEND
deficits through a new High Needs Stability Grant,
protecting councils' ability to support children and young people
with SEND.
- The Schools White Paper sets out clear expectations for every
local authority on the quality and timeliness of SEND support,
including planning school places effectively, issuing Education,
Health and Care Plans on time and providing the expert support
that schools and families need.
- This is backed by a £4 billion investment to strengthen SEND
support, including:
- £1.6 billion through an Inclusive Mainstream Fund
- £1.8 billion for an Experts at Hand service,
bringing specialist support into every local area
- £200 million each for teacher training, Best Start Family
Hubs, and building local authority reform capacity
- Education Secretary has written directly
to every local authority and Integrated Care Board, setting out
the government's clear expectations and commissioning each area
to develop a Local SEND Reform Plan by
June 2026, with payments released in Autumn 2026 following
approval.
- She set out that support will be matched with strong
accountability. Measures include:
- Support – expert advisers, commissioners and sector-led
improvement alongside clear, time-bound expectations for better
outcomes.
- Interventions – inspections that hold all partners to
account, support from expert advisers, commissioners and
sector-led improvement, mandated improvement where needed, and
as a last resort, the use of statutory powers up to and
including transferring SEND responsibilities to a trust –
something that has not been done before.
- Where council performance is strong, the government will
actively support those councils to share their best practice
across networks so others can learn and improve.
- Over a million children in England's schools with additional
needs currently have no legally enforceable rights to support.
Every child with SEND will now receive an Individual Support
Plan, with a new legal requirement on schools to provide
personalised support earlier and closer to home. Every school
will have an inclusion base, backed by £3.7 billion.
- The aim is fewer disputes, faster decisions, better planning,
and public money delivering better outcomes for children and
families.
Examples
- Children out of school left without a placement.
- Breakdown in statutory processes, with large backlogs of
annual reviews leaving children on out‑of‑date plans for long
periods and, in some cases, losing their legal right to appeal
because amended plans were issued months late.
- Extended waits for basic support, including families waiting
18 months or more for short‑break provision where services had
not been fully put in place.
- Inefficient SEND transport arrangements, meaning children are
often left without transport, or there are significant overspends
where known solutions (such as route optimisation, pooled
journeys, stronger procurement or independent travel training)
had not been implemented.
- Taken together, these issues result in children missing
education, families drawn into prolonged disputes, and high
public costs without better outcomes.
