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The government will bring in legislation to help deliver its planned reform of the special educational needs system, it was confirmed today in the King’s Speech.

The is part of the government’s legislative priorities for the next parliamentary session.

It will introduce the proposals set out earlier this year to reform special educational needs and disabilities provision.

King Charles said: “A bill will be brought forward to raise standards in schools and introduce generational reforms of the special educational needs system.”

In his speech, he also said that the government believes that “every child deserves the chance to succeed to the best of his or her ability and not be held back due to poverty, special educational needs or a lack of respect for vocational education”.

Reforms to ‘transform’ school system

Last night the government said its reforms will “transform the school system so that all children get access to an inclusive, high-quality mainstream education, and parents don’t have to battle a system just to get their kids the support they deserve.”

Earlier this year, the Department for Education announced plans to reform SEND provision. This is set to include national inclusion standards for schools to adhere to and changes to education, health and care plans (EHCPs), which are to be retained. Schools will be required to produce statutory individual support plans for all pupils with SEND.

Pupils with SEND will be placed into three categories: targeted, targeted plus or specialist. Only those on the specialist tier will receive an EHCP in the new system, which will be underpinned by new specialist provision packages.

A consultation on the reforms is running until Monday 18 May.

In published today to accompany the King’s Speech, the government vowed to “improve fairness across the system” by “funding schools on a fair and consistent basis” across the country, and “requiring schools to pool a portion of their funding for SEND”.

Support in schools near home

The bill will require schools to produce an individual support plan for every child and young person with SEND and reform the role of the SEND tribunal.

The government has also pledged that children with SEND will get the support they need in a school near home, as part of its bid to make mainstream schools more inclusive.

It said it will “transform” support for children and young people with SEND by “providing early access to support close to home” to “build a truly inclusive education system that works for every family”.

Subject to what comes out of the ongoing consultation on the SEND proposals, the bill will provide “local” support: pupils “should be able to learn at an education setting close to their home, alongside their peers, rather than travelling long distances from their family and community”.

As previously announced, this will be backed by more than £200 million to give all teachers, school leaders, teaching assistants and support staff training on SEND and inclusion, as well as a requirement in the SEND Code of Practice for staff in every nursery, school and college to receive the training.

‘Serious workload risk’

Reacting to the King’s Speech, Daniel Kebede, general secretary of the NEU teaching union, warned that the legislation proposals announced today “cannot be delivered on the funding and workforce commitments now on the table”.

He added: “There is a serious workload risk for education staff right across the reform package. Targeted plus, individual support plans, specialist provision packages, inclusion bases, the coordination of ‘experts at hand’, new training duties, national inclusion standards, the new inclusion strategy duty and new accountability measures all fall on the same Sendcos, class teachers and support staff - people who are already at breaking point.

“This is a potential disaster that SEND parents can also well do without.”

Leora Cruddas, chief executive of the Confederation of School Trusts, said: “Encouraging inclusive support within mainstream schools while recognising the crucial work of the specialist sector offers a more positive approach, with quicker and more local support to help all children succeed.”

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