The long-awaited Government SEND Review proposals for England is finally out. 

The SEND Review recognises many of the biggest issues that autistic children and their families currently face and proposes solutions. This is a start but it does not go far enough. 

Over the next days and weeks, we will be examining the proposals in more detail, alongside the Schools White Paper, which was published yesterday, to properly understand how the Government intends to implement them. We will also be responding to the Government’s consultation on their plans and will encouraging our supporters to do so too. It’s vital that the voices of autistic people, families and carers are heard.

In the meantime, here are our first thoughts on the proposals:

Our School Report 2021 showed that the education simply is not working for autistic children. The Government’s ambition is to improve the provisions for children and young people with SEND, including autistic children. There is a pledge to end the postcode lottery for support and to improve and standardise processes for EHCPs. In our School Report, we urged the Government to tackle delays in getting support, as well as improving the support on offer. We found that just over a quarter of parents had to wait over three years to receive support for their child. This is unacceptable. 

The Government says it is committed to making mainstream education more inclusive. We are, however, disappointed that it has stopped short of pledging full mandatory autism training. This would make a real difference to the lives of many autistic children. From our own research, seven in ten autistic children and young people said school would be better if more teachers understood autism. 

The Green Paper has many proposals, which we will be reading through carefully so we can challenge any areas we feel they haven’t got right or haven’t gone far enough... 

Here are five important proposals in the Green Paper:

1.    Improving and standardising the EHC Plan processes

• Introduce a standardised and digitised EHCP process and template. This would mean that every area’s process looked similar and wouldn’t vary so much. It also proposes to work with parents, carers and children when it is preparing these templates. It will be important for this process to properly identify autistic children’s needs and not make getting support any more difficult.
• Provide a list of settings or support that could meet a child’s needs during the EHC process. While this might work for some children, we are concerned that there aren’t enough of the right types of support in each area of the country at the moment. It’s important that choices about types of support are based on children’s needs, not what’s available. 
• Standardise the annual review process for reviewing EHCPs.
• Consult shortly on a proposal for a timescale that will enable a quality EHCP to be produced. We know that statutory deadlines are often missed now and it is most important to tackle the causes of the delays, not extend the deadlines.

2.    More inclusive teacher training, qualifications and development opportunities

• Improve mainstream provision, building on the Schools White Paper, through teacher training and development. This is a good step, but it doesn’t go as far as saying that all teachers must have autism training, which is vital. In fact, we think that there should be a “whole school” approach to autism understanding.
• Establish an Institute of Teaching which will become England’s flagship teacher development provider.
• Introduce a new qualification for SEN Co-ordinators in schools. 

3.    Improving accountability within the SEND system

• Make the roles of people involved in the SEND process clearer, so people know their responsibilities. 
• Create ‘local inclusion dashboards’ which would collect and monitor local data about SEND provision and give parents more information about what is happening in their area. This could be important, but it is not yet clear what information will be collected.  

4.    Clear national standards and the introduction of mandatory mediation

• Set standards for how complaints related to the SEND processes and provision should be dealt with and who is responsible for resolving concerns. 
• Require mediation before a complaint can go to appeal. We are concerned about how this would work, as many parents have to go to Tribunal just to get their children’s basic entitlements.

5.    Improving standards for transitions

• Invest £18 million over the next three years to build capacity in the Supported Internships Programme.
• Improve transitions at further education by introducing Common Transfer Files. These would collect together important information about a young person that school and college could share to make sure they can provide support from the start. 
• Pilot the roll out of reasonable adjustment passports to ensure young people with SEND are prepared for Higher Education and employment.

What’s happening next

As this is a Green Paper, the Government is running a consultation to get people’s views about the proposals. We will have more information about ways that you can share your thoughts with the Government in the coming weeks. It will be incredibly important that autistic children and their parents’ voices are heard. 

Further information

• Read the SEND Review proposals for England on the Government website.
• Read our report about the education system in England.
• For information and guidance about getting support in school, visit our website. 
• If you’re looking for advice about education rights, tribunals or exclusions, contact our specialist helplines.