Written statement: Local SEND Reform Plan Outcomes - Oct 29
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Minister for School Standards (Georgia Gould): Every child and
young person should have the opportunity to fulfil their potential,
whatever their needs or circumstances. This government inherited a
SEND crisis and we are determined to fix it. This Government's
programme of SEND reform is intended to deliver a more inclusive
system that delivers for children and families - one that
identifies needs early and provides the right support at the right
time. Local leadership and...Request free trial
Minister for School Standards (Georgia Gould): Every child and young person should have the opportunity to fulfil their potential, whatever their needs or circumstances. This government inherited a SEND crisis and we are determined to fix it. This Government's programme of SEND reform is intended to deliver a more inclusive system that delivers for children and families - one that identifies needs early and provides the right support at the right time. Local leadership and strong partnership working will be central to achieving that ambition. It was against this backdrop that, in March 2026, this government commissioned all local area partnerships to develop and submit a Local SEND Reform Plan jointly with education, health and care partners. I want to express my thanks to all local partners for the engagement and dedication that they have demonstrated through this process. The Department for Education, working with Department for Health and Social Care, and NHS England, has reviewed all submitted plans against a consistent Quality Assessment Framework shared with local area partnerships at the point of commission. Today I am confirming the outcome of that process. The plans of 139 local area partnerships have been approved upon first submission. This includes both areas with a strong track record of SEND delivery and those where improvement is still needed to secure better outcomes for children and young people. Approval of a plan is not an endorsement of current performance, but reflects the Government's assessment that the plan has met the required threshold for approval and provides a credible foundation for accelerated delivery. Over 90% of local area partnerships - covering almost every part of the country - have now set out how they will improve support for children and young people with SEND in their local area. Approval of a Local SEND Reform Plan is a condition of payment of a local authority's High Needs Stability Grant allocation. The grant will meet 90% of each local authority's high-needs-related Dedicated Schools Grant deficit and forms a central part of the Government's support for local authorities as we move to a reformed SEND system. Local area partnerships with approved plans must now move swiftly from planning to delivery, implementing their commitments with pace and securing tangible improvements for children and young people with SEND and their families. Approval is a starting point for delivery, not an indication that that further improvement is not still required. Where performance remains inadequate, we will take decisive action. I will shortly publish improvement notices for a number of local areas, setting out the improvements required to strengthen delivery and secure better outcomes for children and young people with SEND. 12 local area partnerships' plans were originally deferred pending revision and resubmission. We have made enhanced, hands-on support available to these areas, focused on helping the partnership to respond to the identified areas for improvement within their plans. We expect these local areas to resubmit their plans by 30 November 2026. Two local areas have already done so, and their revised plans have subsequently been carefully assessed and approved. Government officials, together with SEND and Financial Advisers, will continue to engage closely with local partnerships throughout this process. Local areas whose plans have been approved, but concerns about their delivery capacity and existing performance remain, will receive closer oversight and support focused on helping the partnership translate their plan into sustained improvement and better outcomes for the children and young people with SEND in their care. As local areas move into accelerated delivery, officials from the Department for Education, Department for Health and Social Care and relevant NHS England teams, working alongside expert advisers, will continue to support and challenge local authorities and integrated care boards. Local delivery will be kept under regular review through the Department's Local Area SEND Performance and Delivery Framework. The framework brings together evidence on outcomes for children and young people with SEND, local partnership readiness and capacity, and progress in delivering each Local SEND Reform Plan. We will publish this framework later in the year, setting out transparently how local performance and improvement will be assessed. Each area's overall assessment will determine the level of monitoring, engagement and support it receives and, where necessary, the intervention required. All local areas will attend a quarterly review with officials to consider progress against their commitments, the steps that they are taking to strengthen partnership maturity and early evidence of improved experiences and outcomes for children, young people and families. My department will also use quarterly data on local area progress and dedicated resources to closely monitor performance across the country. We will not hesitate to intervene where local delivery is failing to secure the outcomes children and families should expect. Delivering this ambitious reform will require sustained collective effort across local government, the NHS, education providers, central government and the wider sector. We will work alongside local area partnerships - providing the support, investment, challenge and national leadership needed to turn local plans into lasting change - and continue to put the experiences of children, young people and their families at the heart of delivery. Together, we can build a more inclusive, responsive and sustainable SEND system that earns the confidence of children and young people with SEND and their families, and enables every child to achieve and thrive. Full details of High Needs Stability Grant allocations have been published on the Department for Education section on the GOV.UK website here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/high-needs-stability-grant-2026-to-2027(opens in a new tab)
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