SEND Reforms: What do the new changes mean for you?

The landscape of Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) is shifting. The government has proposed significant reforms aimed at addressing capacity issues, reducing the assessment backlog and moving away from a heavy reliance on Education, Health, and Care Plans (EHCPs).

For those who have been in the profession for over 25 years, the new “three-tier” approach might feel like a return to the familiar days of School Action and School Action Plus. However, these reforms go much further, introducing statutory requirements that will affect every Community member working across schools and early years.

At Community, we understand that with any change brings concerns about workload and resources. Here is a breakdown of the key changes and how they might impact your role.

Breakdown of the new SEND reforms

A new tiered model: Support will be categorized into Targeted, Targeted-Plus, and Specialist tiers to better match a child’s specific level of special educational needs.

• A new tiered model: Support will be categorized into Targeted, Targeted-Plus, and Specialist tiers to better match a child’s specific level of special educational needs.
• Statutory Individual Support Plan (ISP): Every child identified with SEND will now have a statutory ISP. This replaces informal SEN Support records. Furthermore,  ISPs will be digital and follow the child when they move from nursery to primary school and beyond.
• Earlier intervention: The reforms intend for support to start earlier, in early years settings rather than waiting for school or diagnosis.
• EHCP refocus: EHCPs will be reserved primarily for those with the most complex needs and will be used less frequently in mainstream settings. EHCP’s that are currently in place will be retained until 2030.
• National Inclusion Standards: New consistent expectations will be established with schools now needing to provide evidence of how funding is used and how inclusive their practice truly is.
• Funding and specialist access: Significant funding is being pledged to bolster early years provision and mainstream schools. This is specifically designed to grow specialist capacity and establish early intervention help, including direct access to educational psychologists, speech and language therapists, and other specialists.

How will the SEND reforms affect school roles?

Special Educational Needs Coordinators (SENCos)

The impact on SENCOs will be profound. You will be responsible for coordinating the three tiers of support and moving pupils through universal, targeted and specialist pathways.

• Workload: Writing and maintaining statutory ISPs for all SEND pupils will significantly increase administrative tasks.
• Leadership: You will work alongside the Senior Leadership Team to lead the development of the new National Inclusion Standards.

School Leaders

Inclusion is no longer a “delegated duty”; it is now a core leadership feature.

• Transparency: You will be required to publish inclusion strategies and data, showing exactly how SEND funding is being utilised.
• Culture: The focus shifts from mere compliance to “adaptive pedagogy,” ensuring your workplace remains accountable for provision before escalating to an EHCP.

Classroom Teachers

While day-to-day changes may feel subtle, the “graduated response” becomes more formal.

• Planning: ISPs are now mandatory and therefore must be reflected in your lesson planning. Differentiation is now the absolute baseline expectation.
• Evidence: You will be the primary source of evidence for a child’s progress, feeding data into the ISPs to prove that SEND needs are being met.

Teaching Assistants

Your role will now move toward more structured, evidenced interventions.

• Independence: There is a renewed focus on promoting pupil independence rather than constant 1:1 shadowing.
• Documentation: You should expect to play a larger role in recording the effectiveness of the interventions you deliver.

Education Admin and Office Staff

The shift to statutory ISPs for every SEND pupil creates a significant amount of administrative work, including a cycle of drafting, reviewing and filing. Education Admin and Office teams will likely see an increase in scheduling complex review meetings and tracking intervention costs against school finances.

How will the SEND reforms affect nursery roles?

There will be critical changes to the way SEND is identified and supported with moves towards much greater early intervention.

The expectations have increased, however there is an additional £47 million early years inclusion funding from DfE, along with £1.8 billion across the whole education system to develop and fund advice and support from specialists.

The reforms will shift SEND support earlier into nurseries and preschools, requiring early years providers to identify needs, create ISPs and deliver targeted interventions — supported by new funding and specialist services. Furthermore, support will be expected to be delivered as soon as needed, and there is no requirement to wait for formal diagnoses and EHCPs before interventions begin.

Nursery Leaders

Nursery leaders will face several new operational and strategic requirements under the proposed reforms, which is fully expected to create more workload for both nursery leaders as well as admin staff.

• Early identification and culture: You will be expected to build more robust systems to identify needs early and fostering a proactive culture of support and intervention for all children.
• ISP implementation: You will establish formal Individual Support Plan (ISP) systems to record, monitor and provide evidence for all SEND provision.
• Transparency: You must demonstrate “good value for money” regarding SEND funding, aligning nursery reporting standards with those currently used in schools.

Nursery Workers and Room Staff

For nursery workers and room staff, the focus is shifting toward more formal identification and evidence-gathering, including:

• Early identification training: You will need to be trained to spot early developmental concerns that may indicate if a child has special educational needs.
• Structured support: Once a need is confirmed, you must be supported to deliver the specific, structured interventions outlined in the child’s ISP.
• Observation and recording: You will be required to maintain detailed records of observations as well as track pupil progress specifically against their SEND targets.

Will the SEND reforms increase workload?

There is no sugar-coating it, transitioning to the new SEND reforms will increase workload. Setting up new systems, drafting initial ISPs and embedding national standards requires time and energy that is already in short supply across the education and early years sector. However, once systems are established and new practices are embedded in normal working some of these burdens will ease.

When these systems are established, the goal is a fairer and more transparent system that proves the incredible work schools already do. Data-driven support should, in theory, ensure that help reaches the children who need it most much earlier.