In this blog, you will learn:
Why this SEND Case Manager believes consistent, early SEND support will only work when schools, health services and social care are aligned and properly funded.
Why addressing workforce pressures and limited specialist support can improve outcomes and attendance for children and young people with SEND, according to a SEND Case Manager.
How to find and apply for the best local authority SEND jobs.
The Schools White Paper promises a more consistent and inclusive SEND system, but can these reforms really deliver meaningful change for children and families?
With major changes proposed for SEND provision through the Schools White Paper, understanding the challenges facing the system has never been more important.
That’s why we recently spoke to SEND Case Manager Claire about the structure of the SEND system and the UK government's plans with the Schools White Paper.
As a SEND Case Manager and the parent of a child with SEND, Claire is passionate about improving the quality and consistency of support.
In this interview, Claire shares her views on the Schools White Paper and how specialist support can impact attendance and outcomes for children and young people with SEND.
What are your initial thoughts on the Schools White Paper and the direction it sets for the future of SEND provision?
I think the focus on consistency, earlier support and clearer expectations for mainstream inclusion reflects what people working in the system and families have been saying for years.
This new focus isn’t wrong and has good intentions, but I don’t think it’s going to fix what it is intended to fix. It may make the system look clearer on paper, but won’t necessarily make it more reliable in practice.
I have come to understand that the SEND sector isn't failing in isolation; it is failing when health provision is delayed, social care isn’t in place, or schools don't have the capacity to meet needs.
Unless broader pressures are addressed, how much can structural reform within SEND alone achieve?
There is still a tendency within the system to frame SEND as something that needs to be reduced or managed, rather than understood and supported.
The reality is that there will always be children, young people and adults who require different levels and types of support. The question isn’t how we reduce the need; it is how we respond to it.
What worries me about the direction of reform is that it could have the opposite effect. By raising thresholds and linking access to stricter criteria, fewer children may qualify for statutory support.
Changing thresholds doesn’t reduce need; it only changes who is recognised and who isn’t.
We are already working within a system where it isn’t always clear whether provision is being delivered consistently, even when it is written into an EHCP. That isn’t simply a question of practice at the school level.
In many cases, it reflects wider constraints around funding, staffing and access to external services, where responsibility sits across multiple parts of the system, but the pressure often lands on SEND.
So, if more responsibility is placed on schools without clearly strengthening accountability or capacity, I wonder how that provision will be secured in practice.
And if that support isn’t secured consistently during education, what does that mean for outcomes later?
The government wants all schools to join or form Multi-Academy Trusts. How might this structural change impact SEND delivery at a local level?
In theory, bringing schools together under Multi-Academy Trusts could allow for more consistency, shared expertise and better use of resources.
If SEND is prioritised properly within a trust, there is potential for stronger collaboration, more consistent approaches and clearer expectations across settings.
However, the impact will depend on how this works in practice. Structure alone doesn’t guarantee quality.
We’ve already seen variation within the current system and there’s a risk that this change simply moves that variation from local authorities to trusts instead of fixing it.
Some trusts may build strong, well supported SEND provision, while others may not, creating a new kind of postcode lottery.
The SEND sector relies on education, health and social care working together and those systems aren’t structured in the same way.
So, even if schools are aligned within a trust, the wider services they depend on may not be and that can create disconnect rather than cohesion.
Accountability is another concern. If trusts take on more responsibility, how do we ensure consistent performance across regions and who is held responsible when outcomes fall short?
While there is potential for this to improve consistency in some areas, it isn’t something that will automatically improve SEND delivery on its own.
It depends on whether SEND is prioritised within those structures and whether the wider system is aligned enough to support it.
Do you feel the Schools White Paper adequately addresses current workforce pressures within schools and local authorities?
I don’t think it fully does. There is a strong focus on training and upskilling, which is important, but the issue in SEND isn’t primarily a lack of knowledge.
In most cases, people already have a good understanding of what children need. The difficulty is whether they have the time, capacity and support to consistently deliver.
Workforce pressure is one of the biggest challenges in the system at the moment. Schools and local authorities are stretched and external services are often working at or beyond capacity. That has a direct impact on everything else.
It affects how quickly assessments can be completed, how consistently provision can be delivered and how well support can be coordinated.
SEND training can help improve confidence and consistency, but it doesn’t create time, reduce caseloads, or increase access to specialist services. The system doesn’t lack understanding, it lacks capacity.
If those pressures aren’t addressed, then it’s difficult to see how the system will function differently in practice. Even well designed changes will struggle to translate into consistent delivery without that capacity behind them.
The Schools White Paper highlights improving attendance and reducing persistent absence for children with SEND. How realistic do you think these proposals are and what challenges might schools and local authorities face in achieving them?
Improving attendance is important because children cannot fully benefit from education if they are unable to access it consistently.
The intention behind these proposals is understandable. However, I think the challenge is whether they address the reasons attendance is low in the first place.
For many children and young people with SEND, absence is often linked to wider issues. These can include unmet needs, anxiety, difficulties accessing the learning environment, delays in specialist support, or placements that are struggling to meet needs. We already know these challenges exist and they are not new.
The difficulty is that addressing them often requires coordinated support across education, health and social care, yet all three systems are under significant pressure.
Schools are managing increasing levels of need, specialist placements are often operating at or beyond capacity, and waiting times for health services can be substantial.
Even when the reason for a child's absence is understood, the support needed to address it may not be immediately available.
I think the key question is not simply how attendance can be increased, but what will be different this time. We already have a reasonable understanding of many of the factors contributing to poor attendance.
The challenge is whether the capacity, services and support needed to address those factors will be available in practice.
Attendance matters, but improving attendance figures is not necessarily the same thing as improving outcomes.
If a child still does not feel safe, supported, or able to access what is being offered, have we actually improved the situation for that child?
What challenges might schools and local authorities face in improving attendance and reducing absence for children with SEND?
Schools are already managing a wide range of pressures and improving attendance for children with SEND often requires time, flexibility and input from external services.
If those services aren’t readily available, or if schools don’t have the capacity to provide that level of support, then expectations around attendance may not be realistic in practice.
The question is whether these proposals will address what drives absence or whether they focus more on the outcome itself.
Unless the reasons behind absence are understood and properly supported, it is difficult to see how attendance improves in a meaningful and sustained way.
Looking ahead, what do you think will be the most successful element of the Schools White Paper?
The focus on greater consistency has the most potential to make a difference. At the moment, one of the biggest challenges in SEND is variation.
What a child receives can depend heavily on where they live, which school they attend and how local systems are operating. That creates uncertainty for families and makes it difficult to know what should reasonably be expected.
Having clearer expectations around what should be available, particularly within mainstream settings, is a positive step if it is implemented in a meaningful way.
There is an opportunity to strengthen early support so that it is easy to access, consistent and matches the right level of need.
Doing so could ease pressure later in the process and improve outcomes for children and families before challenges escalate. In theory, that should lead to a system that feels more responsive and less reactive.
Both of those areas depend on how they are delivered in practice. Consistency only works if it is based on something that is clearly defined, understood and achievable across different settings.
Early support only works if it is actually available when it is needed, rather than something that exists in principle but is difficult to access.
Consistency and early support have real potential, but only if they are delivered as something that is expected, resourced and monitored, not just described.
If those elements are in place, then these aspects of reform could make a genuine difference.
If they are not, then there is a risk that they will remain aspirational rather than something that actually changes what children experience.
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