SEND code of practice, reforms and graduated approach (England)

This page is about England only. It does not cover Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland.

Schools in England work today to the SEND code of practice: 0 to 25 years, the statutory guidance on Part 3 of the Children and Families Act 2014 and the regulations made under it. The government has set out reforms, but its consultation says that until new legislation comes into force, “the current system will remain in place, including all existing duties, rights, and funding routes.”

There is also a new requirement with a deadline this year: mainstream schools that receive the inclusive mainstream fund must publish an inclusion strategy statement by 31 December 2026.

Where SEND reform stands

In February 2026 the government published its plans to reform SEND in England. They are still proposals. The consultation says that “new legislation is not expected to come into effect until September 2029”.

23 February 2026. The Department for Education (DfE) published the schools white paper, Every child achieving and thriving, and opened its consultation, SEND reform: putting children and young people first. The white paper was laid in Parliament the same day.
18 May 2026. The consultation closed. Its page says the department is analysing the feedback. It has not yet published its response.
25 June 2026. The DfE published the conditions of grant for the inclusive mainstream fund, part of £1.6 billion over three years, including the requirement to publish an inclusion strategy.
10 July 2026. Two further consultations opened, on education otherwise than at school and on a local SEND inclusion formula that would let local authorities increase the funding mainstream schools receive to support pupils with SEND in the 2027 to 2028 financial year. Both closed on 18 September 2026, and their pages say the department is analysing the feedback.
20 July 2026. Lucy Powell became Education Secretary. The white paper and consultation were published under her predecessor, Bridget Phillipson.
September 2026. The DfE said local areas would begin rolling out the first parts of Experts at Hand, which brings specialists such as speech and language therapists and educational psychologists into mainstream schools, colleges and nurseries (DfE factsheet, June 2026).
24 September 2026. The DfE published the first SEND and inclusion training materials for mainstream schools. It encourages schools to use them but says they are not mandatory. It says more will follow in January and April 2027, with fully funded training courses from September 2027.
31 December 2026. The deadline for inclusion strategy statements for 2026 to 2027.
September 2029. When the DfE expects new legislation to take effect and the first assessments under the new system to begin.
September 2030. The earliest point at which children with existing EHC plans would see any change, according to the DfE.

What the government proposes

These are proposals in the consultation and the DfE’s information for mainstream school leaders. None of them is law yet.

Individual Support Plans. A new duty on schools and colleges to produce a digital Individual Support Plan (ISP) for any child or young person with SEND, developed with parents and reviewed at least once a year. The consultation says the duty “will come into effect following changes to legislation”.
Layers of support. Three layers above the universal offer: Targeted, with small-group interventions delivered by school staff; Targeted Plus, including Experts at Hand; and Specialist, provided through nationally defined Specialist Provision Packages.
EHC plans. EHC plans would be kept for children with the most complex needs, and the provision in a Specialist Provision Package would underpin the entitlements in the plan. The government would legislate so that only those who need a package need an EHC plan. The consultation’s list of draft packages “is indicative and is likely to change”.
National Inclusion Standards. Evidence-informed tools, strategies and approaches for identifying and supporting additional needs. The DfE’s timeline puts their publication between 2026 and 2028.
Inclusion strategies. A duty on schools to produce an inclusion strategy. Today it is a condition of grant, not a duty in SEND law.
Funding and inclusion bases. After legislation, funding would be rebalanced from the high needs block so that more goes straight into school budgets. Every secondary school would have an inclusion base.
A new code of practice. The DfE says it will update the SEND code of practice after legislation and “consult widely” on the changes.
Appeals. Parents and young people could still appeal to the tribunal.
Protection during the change. Children with existing EHC plans would see no change before September 2030 at the earliest, and would move to the new system only at the end of primary, secondary or post-16 education, or earlier if they choose. Every child with a special school place in 2029 could keep it until they finish education, if they want to.

What is not yet decided

The government has not published its response to any of the three consultations. The ISP duty, the new route to an EHC plan and the revised code all depend on legislation that the DfE expects to take effect from September 2029, and the draft packages may change. On the local SEND inclusion formula, the DfE says its early guidance to local authorities “does not indicate that any decision has been made to implement the policy”. Ministers changed on 20 July 2026; the DfE has continued the training programme since then.

What applies now

The code of practice is statutory guidance from the DfE and the Department of Health and Social Care. The version in force came into effect on 1 April 2015. The publication page was last updated on 12 September 2024, to add a link to the guidance on the SENCO qualification.

School governing bodies, academy proprietors and the management committees of pupil referral units are among the bodies that must have regard to the code.

For a mainstream school, the law gives these duties to the governing body in a maintained school and to the proprietor in an academy:

use its best endeavours to secure the special educational provision that a pupil’s SEN calls for
designate a member of staff as SENCO, responsible for co-ordinating provision for pupils with SEN
tell parents when it is making special educational provision for a child who has no EHC plan
prepare an SEN information report, which the code says must be published on the school’s website and should be updated annually

The code adds that mainstream schools must ensure that pupils with SEN take part in the activities of the school alongside pupils who do not have SEN.

The inclusion strategy

Every mainstream school that receives the inclusive mainstream fund must publish an inclusion strategy statement for 2026 to 2027 by 31 December 2026. This is a condition of the grant, not a duty in SEND law. The fund goes to mainstream maintained schools, academies, free schools and city technology colleges, for the 5 to 16 age range including reception.

The statement must include the activities the school has funded to remove barriers to learning and participation, with their budgeted costs. Each academy in a multi-academy trust publishes its own statement, even where the trust pools the funding. The 2026 to 2027 allocation can be carried forward but must be used by 31 March 2028. The DfE will review a sample of statements, and inspectors can consider them when evaluating inclusion. The DfE has published guidance and a template. Our Ofsted page explains the inspection grades.

The SENCO

The SENCO must be a qualified teacher working at the school who has completed induction where it is required, or the headteacher or acting headteacher. A newly appointed SENCO who has not been a SENCO for more than 12 months in total must hold the mandatory qualification within three years of taking up the post. For courses started on or after 1 September 2024, that is the national professional qualification (NPQ) for SENCOs. The older National Award counts only where the course started before 1 September 2024 and is completed before 1 September 2027. The code itself still refers to the National Award, because the regulations changed after it was written.

SEN support and the graduated approach

In law, a child or young person has SEN if they have a learning difficulty or disability that calls for special educational provision. For a child of compulsory school age, that means a significantly greater difficulty in learning than most others of the same age, or a disability that prevents or hinders them from using the facilities generally provided in mainstream schools. The code describes special educational provision as provision “different from or additional to that normally available to pupils of the same age”.

The code starts with teaching: “High quality teaching, differentiated for individual pupils, is the first step in responding to pupils who have or may have SEN.” Extra intervention and support, it says, “cannot compensate for a lack of good quality teaching”. Class and subject teachers are responsible and accountable for the progress of the pupils in their class, including where teaching assistants or specialist staff support them.

Where a pupil’s progress stays below what is expected despite high-quality teaching targeted at their areas of weakness, the class or subject teacher, working with the SENCO, should assess whether the pupil has SEN. The code says schools should not delay extra teaching or other interventions while they gather evidence.

The code groups needs into four broad areas: communication and interaction; cognition and learning; social, emotional and mental health; and sensory and/or physical needs. It says the purpose of identification “is to work out what action the school needs to take, not to fit a pupil into a category.”

When a pupil is identified as having SEN, the school should put effective special educational provision in place. The code calls this SEN support and sets it out as a four-part cycle, the graduated approach, repeated with more detailed approaches, more frequent review and more specialist expertise each time:

Assess. The class or subject teacher, working with the SENCO, analyses the pupil’s needs, drawing on assessment, previous progress, the views of the pupil and parents and, where relevant, advice from outside services. Concerns raised by parents should be taken seriously and recorded.
Plan. Parents must be formally notified that their child is receiving SEN support. The teacher and SENCO agree with the parents and pupil the adjustments, interventions and support, the expected impact and a clear date for review.
Do. The class or subject teacher remains responsible for the pupil day to day, including when interventions take place away from the class.
Review. The support is reviewed by the agreed date, taking account of the pupil’s and parents’ views, and revised in light of the pupil’s progress.

The code says schools should meet the parents of pupils on SEN support at least three times a year. It also says a school should always involve a specialist where a pupil continues to make little or no progress despite evidence-based support delivered by appropriately trained staff.

If a pupil still does not make expected progress after the school has taken “relevant and purposeful action”, the school or the parents should consider asking the local authority for an EHC needs assessment. The authority will expect to see evidence of what the school did as part of SEN support.

EHC needs assessments and plans

A parent, a young person or someone acting on behalf of a school can ask the local authority for an education, health and care (EHC) needs assessment. The code says a request from a school should ideally be made with the knowledge and agreement of the parents. The authority must carry out the assessment if it considers that the child has or may have SEN and that provision may need to be made through an EHC plan.

The regulations set maximum timescales. Unless stated otherwise below, they run from the day the authority receives the request. The code says each step must still be completed as soon as practicable.

6 weeks. The authority tells the parents whether it will carry out an assessment.
6 weeks from being asked. Anyone the authority asks for information must reply. For a pupil at school, the authority seeks educational advice from the headteacher.
16 weeks. If, after the assessment, the authority decides not to issue a plan, it must say so.
At least 15 days. The time parents have to comment on the draft plan and ask for a particular school to be named in it.
20 weeks. The final plan is issued.

The authority can go beyond these limits only for reasons the regulations list, such as a school closure of at least four weeks around the time advice is requested, exceptional personal circumstances, or the family being away from the area for at least four weeks. Where it decides not to assess, or not to issue a plan, it must tell the parents about their right to appeal.

Once a plan is issued, the local authority must secure the special educational provision it specifies, and a school named in the plan must admit the child.

The local authority must review each plan at least every 12 months, and it can require the headteacher to arrange and hold the review meeting. The meeting needs at least two weeks’ notice, and advice must be circulated at least two weeks before it. The headteacher writes a report with recommendations within two weeks of the meeting, and the authority must tell the parents and the school its decision within four weeks of the meeting. From year 9, the review must consider preparation for adulthood and independent living.

Where a child is within 12 months of moving to a new phase, the plan must be reviewed and, where necessary, amended before 15 February in the year of transfer, or before 31 March for a move from secondary school to a post-16 institution. A school’s governing body or proprietor can also ask the authority to re-assess a pupil’s needs.

Who does what in school

Governing board or academy proprietor. Holds the duties above, decides the SENCO’s role in the leadership and management of the school and monitors how effective the SENCO is. The code says a governor or committee should have specific oversight of SEN arrangements, and the grant conditions say governors and trustees should scrutinise the inclusion strategy. The DfE publishes guidance for governing boards.
Headteacher. Gives the educational advice for EHC needs assessments, holds EHC plan reviews when the local authority asks and writes the review report. The headteacher can also be the SENCO.
SENCO. Co-ordinates provision for pupils with SEN and has day-to-day responsibility for the school’s SEN policy. The code says the SENCO will be most effective as part of the school leadership team, and that the school should give the SENCO sufficient time, resources and administrative support.
Class and subject teachers. Responsible and accountable for the progress of the pupils in their class, and lead the graduated approach with the SENCO.

Keeping track

This page sets out what the law and guidance say, who they apply to and the official sources. Detailed guidance on what to do next in your school is for paid members. If you are briefing staff, governors or parents on reform, the free SEND Reform Pack brings the DfE’s information sheets together in one download.