Schools White Paper: Reaction from education lawyers

The UK Government has unveiled its long-term vision for the education sector after publishing its Schools White Paper today (23 February).

The Department for Education’s (DfE) blueprint covers issues including special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) reform, school groups, pupil behaviour and exclusions, and parental complaints.

Browne Jacobson’s education team has commented on some of the main announcements from the white paper.

SEND reform

Philip Wood, Principal Associate, said: “The DfE’s vision on SEND is based on three overarching strategies – increasing the provision in mainstream schools including with the use of SEND units and an additional band of support and training to staff, raising the criteria for a child to secure the replacement for an Education Health and Care Plan (EHCP), and changing the appeal process and rights.

“While these moves are understandable given the escalating costs of supporting SEND pupils in recent years, they each and collectively face significant challenges.

“The proposal to increase the provision in mainstream schools is inevitably crucial if we want a truly inclusive system, but sufficiently funding these developments is of paramount importance.

“The DfE has announced £4bn over three years to assist with this – £1.6bn of which will be given directly to schools – but against a recent £5bn local authority SEND deficit write-off, it’s not clear whether this will be enough to move the dial after nine in 10 respondents told our latest School Leaders Survey said they were dissatisfied with SEND funding.

“While many in the sector would like to see more special schools, the government clearly feels that bolting on SEND units on mainstream sites is the most cost-effective way forward. Examples of how this could be achieved – such as repurposing surplus spaces or via purpose-buildings to create so-called inclusion bases – are set out in the Education Estates Strategy, published earlier this month.

“Raising the bar for awarding the replacement to an EHCP and creating a new school-led individual support plan for children with less complex needs may well receive opposition from parents. They could view this new package as watered down support from what is currently available to those with an EHCP, which provides a legal right to specific provision.

“However, since the last reforms in 2014, the statistics for pupils with SEND in terms of outcomes, value for money and exclusions paint a poor picture of the system we have. Taken alongside the adversarial nature of the system and the time it often takes to have the right provision in place, all stakeholders should desire change.

“Not only will there be political challenges in pushing this proposal through Parliament, but it wouldn’t be a surprise to see a rise in determination among parents to secure an EHCP ahead of the 2029 system overhaul. Given that SEND Tribunal appeals are already at record levels, this could mean things get significantly worse before they improve in the longer term.”