Committee publication · Special Report · 17 June 2026 · HC 382

1st Special Report – Solving the SEND crisis: Government Response

Summary

This is the Department for Education's formal government response to the Education Committee's September 2025 report on solving the SEND crisis. The government accepts most recommendations, outlining a £4 billion investment over three years in inclusive mainstream education, specialist workforce expansion, and reformed assessment frameworks. It commits to National Inclusion Standards, an 'Experts at Hand' programme delivering specialist support to mainstream settings, and stronger accountability mechanisms, though it rejects some proposals on health service compulsion and maintains consultation-dependent status for certain reforms.

Key findings

Government commits £4 billion over three years: £1.6bn on Inclusive Mainstream Fund, £1.8bn on Experts at Hand programme, £200m+ on training and family hubs, plus £3.7bn capital for 60,000 specialist places.
Plans National Inclusion Standards with independent expert panel (health and education co-chaired) to define ordinarily available provision and evidence-based support tools across 0–25 system.
Investments of £40m to grow Educational Psychologist and Speech and Language Therapist workforce; £26m to train 200+ EPs/year with three-year employment requirement in local authorities.
Proposes Individual Support Plans for all children receiving targeted or specialist support, developed with parents and young people; Inclusion Strategies required in all settings.
Rejects recommendation to legislate compulsory health service levers for local authorities, citing ICB operational independence; proposes instead strengthened metrics and joint working with DHSC/NHS England.
Engages 8,000+ people via National Conversation; conducted 47 focus groups with 186 young people aged 8–25; commits to annual reporting on SEND reform progress.

Government position

Accepts the majority of recommendations. Accepts: inclusive education definition aligned to UNCRPD; major funding increase with detailed investment breakdown; National Inclusion Standards framework; specialist workforce expansion; stakeholder engagement and transparency; Individual Support Plans; early support without EHC plan requirement; strengthened complaints and accountability mechanisms; Children's Commissioner oversight. Rejects: statutory levers to compel NHS/ICB service delivery, instead proposing collaborative metrics and joint planning. Frames remaining responses as provisional, pending consultation closure and subsequent legislation.

Tone

Supportive

Topics

send-educationpublic-financeinclusive-educationworkforce-developmenthealth-education-integration

Key actors

Education Committee, Department for Education, Integrated Care Boards (ICBs), Local authorities, Ofsted, Children's Commissioner, Council for Disabled Children, National Network of Parent Carer Forums (NNPCF)

Notable line

“We are making a major increase in investment to prioritise early intervention and deliver an enhanced, inclusive, support offer in mainstream settings.”

Key Quotes

“… the current system is not working. It is failing children, failing parents, failing schools and failing LAs.”
— Department for Education · Summarising feedback from families, professionals and young people in the National Conversation

“Our ambition is to create a system that builds on and spreads this best practice, ensuring all children and young people have the support and opportunities they need to achieve and thrive.”
— Department for Education · Setting overarching reform vision following engagement with practitioners

“Early . Children and families should receive the support they need as soon as possible, with a quick response to changing needs.”
— Department for Education · First of five reform principles

“We are investing over £40m to grow the specialist workforce of Educational Psychologists (EPs) and Speech and Language Therapists”
— Department for Education · Response to recommendation on deploying specialist professionals more effectively

“We will introduce National Inclusion Standards which will provide a shared, nationally consistent understanding of the best evidence to identify and support children and young people with SEND …”
— Department for Education · Responding to Committee's call for unified framework on ordinarily available provision

“There are no plans to introduce levers for local authorities or any other body to compel ICBs or NHS services to make specific decisions, which would cut across the way ICBs operate …”
— Department for Education · Rejecting Committee recommendation on statutory health service compulsion

“This programme of engagement ensured broad, balanced and representative engagement, in line with consultation principles of transparency, accessibility and fairness.”
— Department for Education · Describing stakeholder engagement during SEND reform consultation

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Source · parliament.uk record ↗