After months of waiting, hundreds of children in Rushcliffe with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) and their families have learned how the government intends to fix the widely-recognised crisis in SEND provision.
Under plans announced by the government, every child with SEND in schools across the country will be entitled to an Individual Support Plan (ISP), backed by £4 billion of national investment to make mainstream education more inclusive. These plans will follow a national framework and be personalised by teachers and specialists, in the hope that children receive the help they need without families having to fight for support.
Rushcliffe and Nottinghamshire have been at the sharp end of the SEND crisis since May 2023 when Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission found “widespread failings” at Nottinghamshire County Council following an inspection in January-February of the same year. Two areas for priority action were identified: first, to urgently identify, assess and provide for the needs of children and young people with SEND; and second, to identify and address the delays and gaps in access to some health services. A subsequent inspection report from July 2025 showed that progress had been made in both areas, but local families still report being failed by an overly complex and under resourced system.
In response to the government’s White Paper which is now being consulted upon for 12 weeks, James Naish, MP for Rushcliffe, said: “A child’s background should never determine where they end up, yet too many children with SEND in Rushcliffe have been frustrated or held back by a system that simply hasn’t worked for them. Parents have too often had to fight tooth and nail for support that should have been readily available.
“These much-needed reforms must make sure that children with SEND are seen, heard and supported as a right, not as the result of a battle. I appreciate that trust in the system is extremely low right now, but I cautiously welcome the work done to date which outlines a new vision for SEND provision, and I hope that everybody can see proposals that will benefit them and their children.”
Under the plans, Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCPs) will be retained for children who require more intensive or complex support than schools can routinely provide. Robust transitional protections should ensure that no child loses effective support already in place, with changes phased in gradually and only at key transition points such as moving from primary to secondary school. Parents will continue to have access to SEND tribunals as an important legal safeguard, although the government wants the use of these tribunals to fall significantly.
It was also announced earlier this year that schools will benefit from £200 million for the most ambitious SEND training programme ever introduced in English schools. This was welcomed by James Naish MP at the time, having called for a standardised national framework for SEND training to be properly embedded across all schools in 2025.
Kate Davies, headteacher at Ash Lea School in Cotgrave, a day community special school for pupils aged 3 to 18, said she was pleased to see “strong and positive national focus on SEND within the White Paper”. She said: “Funding for special schools has reduced in real terms over the past decade, and it is vital that this is meaningfully addressed if reform is to translate into real change for children. While the White Paper calls for better integration, without significantly stronger health and medical capacity, too many children will continue to wait for essential therapeutic support, with schools carrying gaps that sit beyond their remit. A genuine commitment to equity of provision is both welcome and necessary to ensure that all children with the most complex needs receive the education and support they deserve, regardless of postcode or parental capacity to navigate the system.”.
Rushcliffe early years expert Karen Richards, who has previously spoken on national television about the challenges facing early years providers, called for private childcare providers’ services to be appropriately funded to support the SEND turnaround effort. She said: “Adequate funding for SEND in early years settings is essential. The government’s White Paper rightly recognises the importance of early identification and intervention. However, this crucial work has been historically underfunded, and we are hopeful all early years providers, both independent and maintained, across Nottinghamshire will now receive equal priority in future SEND investment decisions. The maintained sector won’t be able to do this alone.”
Last year, James Naish MP published a detailed report on SEND, setting out the challenges facing families in Rushcliffe alongside the changes he felt were required to improve the system locally.
Residents can read and download a copy of this report from his website: https://www.jamesnaish.com/rushcliffe-send-report-jamaes-naish-mp/.
ENDS
Notes to Editors
The government consultation can be accessed via: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/every-child-achieving-and-thriving, and the consultation can be responded to via: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/send-reform-putting-children-and-young-people-first.
