SEND Reform in England: What the Improvement Plan Means for Your Child's EHCP

The SEND system in England has been in a state of structural crisis for years. Local authorities are missing statutory deadlines at record rates — in 2024, only 46.4% of new EHCPs were issued within the 20-week legal limit. Over 25,000 Tribunal appeals were registered in the 2023/24 academic year alone, an eightfold increase over the previous decade. The political pressure to "fix" the system has intensified, and successive governments have responded with reform plans, consultations, and improvement frameworks.

Understanding what these reforms actually change — and what they do not — matters if you are navigating the system right now. Because the statutory framework under the Children and Families Act 2014 remains in force, and that is where your child's rights live.

What the SEND Improvement Plan Set Out to Change

The government's SEND and AP Improvement Plan, published in March 2023, was a response to the Green Paper consultation that acknowledged what families had been saying for years: the system is broken, inconsistent, and deeply adversarial. The plan identified five key priorities:

1. A single national SEND and AP system — consistent standards and expectations across all local authorities to address the "postcode lottery" where outcomes depend on geography rather than need
2. Stronger national standards for EHCPs — more consistent quality through template EHCPs and clearer guidance on what good looks like in each section
3. A new SEND and AP national framework — updated statutory guidance to sit alongside the 2015 SEND Code of Practice
4. Better integration between education, health, and care — reducing the gap between what EHCPs specify and what health services actually deliver
5. Alternative dispute resolution — investing in better mediation services and reducing the volume of cases reaching Tribunal

These are not small ambitions. The problem is the gap between stated intent and implementation.

What Has Actually Changed (and What Hasn't)

The honest assessment as of 2025/26 is that the structural problems driving the crisis remain largely intact. Local authorities are still operating with high-needs funding deficits estimated at approximately £3.9 billion nationally. EHCP volumes continue to grow — 638,745 active plans as of January 2025, a 10.8% increase year-on-year — while compliance with statutory timelines continues to worsen, not improve.

Joint SEND area inspections by Ofsted and the CQC, which were relaunched under a new framework in 2023, have exposed how deep the problems run. Of the 54 local area partnerships inspected up to late 2024, only 14 were rated as providing positive experiences. Twenty-six had inconsistent provision, and 14 had widespread and systemic failings requiring urgent action.

What has changed in practical terms for families:

• Increased Ofsted/CQC scrutiny of local area SEND partnerships, which creates some accountability pressure on the worst-performing areas
• Clearer expectation (though not yet mandatory requirement) for templated EHCPs — the government has pushed for greater consistency in how EHCPs are structured
• More investment in mediation services — though mediation remains a gateway step before Tribunal, not a replacement for it

What has not changed:

• The statutory 20-week timeline — still legally binding, still routinely breached
• Your right to appeal — the First-tier Tribunal remains the enforcement mechanism when the LA fails
• The legal threshold for assessment — Section 36(8) of the Children and Families Act 2014 still governs eligibility
• Section F specificity requirements — the Upper Tribunal case law requiring quantified, specific provision is still binding
• The 98.7% parent win rate at Tribunal — local authorities are still defending legally indefensible decisions at enormous cost

Why Reform Is Moving Slowly

The structural friction is financial as much as administrative. Defending SEND appeals cost the public purse an estimated £153 million to £200 million in 2024-25. Yet local authorities continue to refuse assessments and issue vague EHCPs because the alternative — funding every child's full statutory entitlement — would blow their high-needs budgets entirely.

Reform plans that do not address this fundamental funding gap operate at the margins. Better templates, clearer guidance, and improved inspections all help at the edges. They do not resolve the core problem: local authorities have a structural financial incentive to under-provide, and the enforcement mechanism (Tribunal) is so slow — typically 50-plus weeks from registration to hearing — that many families give up before it resolves.

What This Means for Families Navigating the System Now

Reform is a long game. The Children and Families Act 2014 is the law right now, and it gives you enforceable rights right now. The improvement plan does not supersede the statute, and it does not give local authorities additional leeway during a "transition period."

If your local authority is citing the reform process as a reason to delay, to issue a vague EHCP, or to defer implementing provision — that is not a lawful justification. The existing statutory duties are in full force.

Your child's rights during any reform period remain:

• The right to a decision on an assessment request within six weeks
• The right to a final EHCP within 20 weeks of the initial request
• The right to provision that is specific, quantified, and legally enforceable under Section 42 of the CFA 2014
• The right to appeal any refusal or inadequate plan at the First-tier Tribunal

If the system is changing around you, the appropriate response is not to wait and see — it is to understand your current statutory rights precisely and use them.

How to Protect Your Child During Reform Uncertainty

Three things remain constant regardless of what any government improvement plan says:

Document everything. Every letter, every email, every phone call followed by a written summary. Date-stamped correspondence creates the paper trail that matters when deadlines are missed and disputes reach Tribunal.

Know the specific statutory deadlines. Six weeks for an assessment decision. 20 weeks for a final EHCP. 15 February for phase transfers to new schools. 31 March for post-16 transitions. These are not targets — they are legal obligations. A local authority that misses them is in breach, and you should document the breach immediately.

Do not rely on reform timelines. If the system changes in ways that improve your child's position, those changes will be announced through updated statutory guidance or new legislation. Until then, the Children and Families Act 2014 is the framework you operate within — and it gives you far more enforceable rights than most parents realise.

For a complete guide to using those rights — from assessment requests to Tribunal evidence preparation — the England SEND Tribunal Playbook sets out the full process in practical, step-by-step form.

The Bottom Line

SEND reform in England is real, ongoing, and overdue. But it is happening slowly, and the gap between political intent and ground-level delivery remains enormous. In 54 joint area inspections, less than a quarter of local areas were found to be providing positive experiences for families. The remaining three-quarters ranged from inconsistent to systemically failing.

That is the landscape your child's EHCP exists within. The reform plan does not change what you are entitled to today. It does not change what local authorities are legally required to do. And it does not change the fact that the First-tier Tribunal, backed by the Children and Families Act 2014, remains the most powerful tool available to families when the system fails them.

Use it accordingly.

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