New Government SEND Reforms – What are They, and What Will They Mean for Tenders?

SEND reforms were discussed on Tuesday 29^th March 2022, with an alternative provision green paper was released that set out a vision for a single, national SEND and alternative provision (AP) system. This system aims to improve the quality of support for SEND/AP children across education, health, and care by introducing new standards and reduce the ‘postcode lottery’ that leaves disadvantaged areas/postcodes with worse outcomes.

A year later, on Thursday 2^nd March 2023, the SEND and AP Improvement Plan was published detailing SEND reforms. This plan confirms the SEND system is to be transformed through implementation of new national SEND and AP standards that promise high quality, early support to SEND and AP families wherever they live in the country.

The plan outlines further training for thousands of workers in the form of a new SENCo NPQ qualification, and recruitment of over 5,000 early years SEN co-ordinators and 400 Ed-psychologists. The institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education has also been tasked with developing an apprenticeship for teachers of sensory impairments.

There will also be thousands of additional specialist school places in the form of 33 new special free schools (in addition to the 49 already in the pipeline).

The new guidelines for professionals being introduced aim to ensure the right amount of personalised support is provided to SEND children, including adjusting classrooms to help SEND students remain in mainstream education. The Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCP) are also being simplified and digitised to improve the assessment process and parents’/carers’ experience in accessing support.

These investments have reached over £10 billion in cost and come as part of the government’s ‘Level Up’ Scheme. The changes will work from 2023 – 2025/26, beginning with selected local authorities in 9 regions to test and refine longer-term plans, and will be subject to a local authority inspection regime by Ofsted and the CQC.

Additional confirmed measures include:

• SENCo NPQ qualification.
• Focus on AP preparing children to prepare for adulthood, acting as an intervention with mainstream education and high-quality standalone provision to prevent escalation through meeting children’s needs earlier.
• Further AP Specialist Taskforces, working directly with young people in AP to offer expert support in the form of mental health professionals, family workers, SALT teams, etc.
• Doubling of supported internships by 2025 (2,500 to 5,000).
• Development of innovative respite short breaks for children, young people, and their families.

So, what does this mean in relation to providers and tendering? For providers providing care/support to children/young adults with SEND/AP needs, there will be a much higher focus on working with educational bodies to ensure needs are met both in and out of education, such as engaging with SENCos to modify classrooms, and comparing support plans with EHCPs for consolidation on approaches to/management of challenging behaviours.

There will also be a higher focus on general collaborative working, specifically with mental health and SALT teams to ensure the achievement of outcomes.

The main steps providers can take to ready themselves for the SEND reforms are to keep themselves up to date over the coming years to any further changes being implemented, as well as building concrete relationships with local councils, educational bodies, mental health and SALT teams, and other relevant key stakeholders – by working collaboratively, providers and key stakeholders can begin implementing changes to processes and procedures in line with reforms to make the adaptation process easier.

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