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Every Child Achieving and Thriving: What Schools Need to Know About the New SEND and Inclusion White Paper

The government has published its new schools white paper called Every Child Achieving and Thriving (England). It sets out a plan for raising standards while making schools more inclusive, with a major focus on improving support for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).

For school leaders, the core message is that inclusion and high standards are being treated as two parts of the same job. The paper argues that too many children are supported late (often only after families have had to push hard), and that mainstream schools need better funding, training and access to specialist expertise so pupils can get the right help earlier.

You can read the white paper here:

If you’re reviewing your SEND provision and want to compare specialist support partners, you can use the National Register of Education Suppliers at Incensu to find SEND providers with school experience:

What the white paper is trying to achieve

The white paper sets out a longer-term shift in how the system works:

  • From a narrow focus on what happens only inside school, to a broader approach that wraps services around children, families and schools
  • From children being sidelined (including many pupils with SEND), to being included in their local mainstream school where possible
  • From families withdrawing trust in the system, to families feeling confident that support is available without conflict

This direction aligns with a wider policy push towards earlier identification, earlier intervention, and more consistent expectations across the country.

The headline SEND and inclusion changes schools should understand

1) A new Inclusive Mainstream Fund (£1.6bn over three years)

Alongside the white paper, the government set out a new Inclusive Mainstream Fund worth £1.6 billion over three years. The intention is to give early years settings, schools and colleges more direct resources to put support in place earlier.

In practice, this is positioned as funding that can help schools:

  • run targeted and small-group interventions at the earliest signs of additional needs
  • strengthen inclusive practice and adaptive teaching
  • build a more consistent “offer” for pupils with commonly occurring needs

Schools will want to watch for details on how this funding will be allocated locally and what accountability requirements will apply.

For statutory responsibilities and graduated response, this is the key reference:

2) “Experts at Hand” (£1.8bn over three years)

A second major commitment is a new Experts at Hand service, backed by £1.8 billion over three years. The aim is to make specialist support (such as SEND specialist teachers, speech and language therapists and educational psychologists) more available to mainstream settings.

A key point for leaders: the announcement says this support should be available regardless of whether a child has an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP). That signals a push to reduce the bottleneck where specialist input only arrives once statutory processes are underway.

Useful EHCP references (for schools and families):

If you’re sourcing external specialists to support early intervention (for example, SALT, EP support, specialist teaching, assistive technology, sensory support), you can browse SEND suppliers here:

3) Training and capability: stronger SEND expertise in every school

The white paper describes a national training package to improve staff confidence and skills in supporting SEND and inclusion, linked to wider reforms in teacher development.

For schools, the practical impact is likely to be:

  • more structured expectations around SEND and inclusion training
  • a stronger emphasis on adaptive teaching and inclusive classroom routines
  • a more strategic SENCO role over time (less admin-heavy, more leadership-focused)

If you’re aligning inclusion work with inspection expectations, Ofsted is the safest reference point:

4) Clearer, more consistent support: national standards and provision packages

The white paper sets out plans to build more consistent, evidence-based expectations for SEND support, including:

  • National Inclusion Standards (described as a digital library of tools and provision)
  • Specialist Provision Packages to underpin support for pupils with the most complex needs

The direction of travel is to reduce postcode variation and make it clearer what support should look like at different levels.

In the meantime, it’s worth benchmarking your current approach against the SEND Code of Practice and your local authority’s published Local Offer.

5) Individual Support Plans (ISPs) and improved communication with families

A practical proposal in the white paper is that schools will be required to create digital Individual Support Plans for children with identified SEND. These would describe day-to-day provision, adjustments and outcomes, developed with parents.

For leaders, this matters because it suggests:

  • a more standardised approach to documenting support
  • stronger expectations for parent-school collaboration
  • a clearer “golden thread” from needs identification to provision and review

6) Inclusion bases and the school estate

The white paper describes investment and expectations around making buildings and spaces more inclusive, including inclusion bases in mainstream settings.

This matters for planning because it links inclusion to estates strategy (space, breakout rooms, sensory spaces, accessibility adaptations) rather than treating it as only a staffing issue.

What this could mean for EHCPs (and what it does not mean yet)

The white paper is clear that EHCPs will continue for children with the most complex needs. It also signals a desire to make more support available earlier, without requiring families to go through statutory assessment just to access specialist input.

However, the detailed mechanics of how any system changes will work (and the timeline) will matter. For now, schools should treat this as a direction of travel and keep an eye on consultations and statutory guidance updates.

Wider school system changes that leaders should note

Although SEND is a major focus, the white paper also covers broader reforms that could affect school operations, including:

  • a push towards all schools being part of strong, collaborative trusts over time
  • changes to accountability and transparency (including a stronger focus on inclusion)
  • plans for School Profiles to bring key information together for parents
  • a stronger emphasis on attendance, behaviour and pupil belonging

For academies and trust status checks, these are reliable sources:

What school leaders can do now (practical next steps)

  1. Audit your current inclusion offer: what support is available without an EHCP, and how consistently is it delivered across year groups?
  2. Review your graduated response: is “assess, plan, do, review” working in practice, and are interventions timely?
  3. Strengthen parent communication: is your SEND communication clear, predictable and easy for families to navigate?
  4. Map specialist input and gaps: list what external services you can access, typical waiting times, and where bottlenecks sit.
  5. Plan for staff development: identify priority training areas (for example, speech and language, autism, SEMH, sensory needs, adaptive teaching).
  6. Check your environment: identify low-cost adjustments now (quiet spaces, predictable routines, sensory considerations) and longer-term estates needs.
  7. Build your trusted support network: if you’re sourcing specialist SEND products or services, browse providers here: https://www.incensu.co.uk/single-category/sen-supplies/
  8. Help other schools find the right support: if you’ve had a great experience with a supplier, recommend them here: https://www.incensu.co.uk/recommend-a-school-supplier/

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