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'Why the government’s £4bn SEND reforms still won't help families like mine'

'Why the government’s £4bn SEND reforms still won't help families like mine'

The government has just unveiled a £4 billion package it says will improve SEND provision in schools, but parents like me aren’t convinced

Two young children exit a doorway at the same time, holding backpacks and lunch bags and wearing a school uniform. Image depicts a morning and the school day ahead.

Victoria Richards

Published: February 23, 2026 at 4:35 PM

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Like every SEND parent, I’ve been waiting for the government to finally pull their finger out and tell us how it plans to invest and help schools support us better, because it certainly couldn’t get any worse.

After years of waiting for meaningful change, the government’s £4 billion pledge to reform SEND support should feel like a turning point, yet for families like mine, the reality is more complicated.

Over the past couple of years, waiting times have sky-rocketed and we now know that as many as 300,000 children are languishing on lists for disability support and assessment, with more than a quarter of those waiting for more than a year.

Doctors and health leaders have branded the delays “catastrophic”, harming the health and development of SEND children. On average, one in five children is said to need additional support.

Our schools are overstretched and under-resourced, with teachers struggling to cope – so it’s perhaps no surprise, then, that things are increasingly difficult for us at home, too.

A sad and frustrated Asian boy, burdened by schoolwork pressure, is sitting under the table in his room, with his head resting on his knees. His school supplies and backpack are scattered messily on the floor, as he refuses to go to school.

I fight an ongoing battle every morning to get my nine-year-old SEND son to school – he struggles with transitions such as half-term, so just this week he’s been feeling sick and is too anxious to sleep.

For SEND kids, even the school run can feel like climbing a mountain.

The lack of sleep creates a vicious cycle, where he, in turn, becomes sick: I even had a call from school to tell me to come and pick him up because he’d fallen asleep in class. As I did so, I felt all of the emotions SEND parents are so used to feeling: guilty, stressed out and responsible, not least when I had to sit down and justify why he was so tired, my cheeks flushing red with shame. Everything I said sounded to my own ears like an excuse. But the simple truth is that for SEND kids, even the school run can feel like climbing a mountain.

My son is nine and has an ADHD diagnosis – he’s also currently on the ADOS pathway for Autism/ASD diagnosis. It took us a year from his first GP visit for his initial CAMHS assessment, and it will take “at least another year”, the doctor herself told us, with a marked and pointed sigh, for the next stage of his assessment to be carried out.

The option of “going private” simply isn’t an option at all – I called around some providers, and the cost for a two-hour private ADOS assessment is more than £1,000.

Now, even if my son does get his EHCP, it could be just as swiftly taken away.

Meanwhile, my son is getting older and approaching his final year at primary school, and I currently have no confidence that he’ll be seen, let alone given an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP), before he starts at his (huge) mainstream high school.

In other words, the support and provision he needs are extremely unlikely to be in place by the time he needs it. And now, even if he does get his EHCP, it could be just as swiftly taken away – thanks to the government’s latest SEND reforms.

Quick guide: What is an EHCP?

An Education, Health and Care Plan, or EHCP, is a legal document for children and young people up to 25 who need extra support because of special educational needs or disabilities. To get one, parents or young people must request an assessment from their local authority. The council looks at reports from school, health professionals and families before deciding whether to issue a plan. If granted, an EHCP sets out a child’s needs and the support that must legally be provided, such as specialist therapies, one-to-one help in school or equipment. Plans are reviewed every year. Children do not need an EHCP to receive extra help at school, but an EHCP gives families legal backing to ensure support is delivered.

That’s because EHCPs, we now learn, are to be reserved for the most “complex” SEND cases by 2035 (meaning children with physical disabilities, lifelong learning disabilities and severe behavioural problems) – in reality, far fewer children will receive EHCPs overall.

In a bright, friendly therapy room, a young boy with autism interacts with a tactile sensory toy.

The White Paper, which was unveiled on Monday, professes to focus on “inclusion” – it promises a £4 billion package over three years, including £1.6bn for an “inclusive mainstream fund” and £1.8bn for “experts at hand” (which will provide specialists like SEND teachers and speech therapists in mainstream schools) – but to me, it all feels a bit like trying to patch up a hole in a wall with chewing gum.

In government spending terms, £4 billion is far from sufficient to address the deep-seated, systemic crisis in the sector – the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) has warned that high-needs spending alone could rise to £15 billion a year by 2029.

Under the new plans, SEND kids who do not meet the new, more stringent criteria for an EHCP will be given an Individual Support Plan (ISP) instead – which focuses on offering “high-quality interventions” and access to psychologists and therapists.

What, then, for those of us who are stuck in the middle with SEND – not “complex” enough to meet the new threshold of requirements for EHCPs, but in a place of real struggle?

And for those parents who have had to fight tooth and nail to get their children access to the right school environment, that’s about to be taken away, too – in a tribunal, councils will be given control over where SEND children are educated, rather than the parent. What’s more, though a child may currently have an EHCP, they will only get to keep them until the next stage of their education, such as the move to secondary school or sixth form. From 2029, children will routinely be “reassessed” for EHCPs.

What, then, for those of us who are stuck in the middle with SEND – not “complex” enough to meet the new threshold of requirements for EHCP, but in a place of real struggle? For families like mine, I fear these reforms could prove actively damaging. As a parent, standing by and watching your child fall through the net feels both helpless and devastating.

And all the while, kids with autism and ADHD are facing greater social barriers and stigma than ever before: not just from policies like this, but from people who really should know better – such as powerful politicians and even presidents.

In September, Donald Trump poured petrol on the fire of misinformation by saying there had been a “meteoric” rise in autism, which he described as “among the most alarming public health developments in history”. He urged pregnant women to “tough it out” and refrain from taking Tylenol (sold in the UK as paracetamol), claiming – wrongly and dangerously – it was linked to autism.

Ear Defenders Or Headphones And Fidget Toy To Help Child With ASD Or Autism On Table In School Classroom

Then, in November, Reform UK deputy leader Richard Tice came out of the woodwork to describe children wearing ear defenders in school as “insane” and said conditions like ADHD were being “massively overdiagnosed” (though he later apologised). He also suggested schools should “manage” the SEND “crisis” without “labelling” children.

And, in December, the health secretary Wes Streeting announced a review of the supposed “overdiagnosis” of mental health conditions, ADHD and autism.

What we need isn’t just reform that works, but real compassion.

We’ve also seen companies like Merlin Entertainments (which run theme parks like Alton Towers and Legoland) announce they were testing out taking away disability “fast passes” for “invisible” conditions like ADHD and autism, reserving priority spaces for physical disabilities instead (though they later cancelled the trial following an outcry from parents).

None of this helps the people it is supposed to help: our children. What we need isn’t just reform that works, but real compassion – and these latest proposals from the government fall woefully short on both fronts. Rather than helping families who need it most, I can’t help worrying that they are only going to make it worse.

About the author

Victoria Richards is a journalist, columnist and editor with more than 20 years’ experience across national newspapers and broadcasters. She has written for titles including the BBC, FT, The Times, Sunday Times and HuffPost UK, and has appeared on Newsnight, BBC World, ITV News, 5Live, Lorraine and Woman’s Hour. Victoria is also the mother of a child with special educational needs, and writes candidly about the realities of navigating the SEND system as a parent.

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Victoria Richards