How can the SEND and AP Improvement Plan provide better opportunities for children?

The SEND and AP Improvement Plan pledges to make changes across the system to support SEND children and those in alternative provision to get the help they need 

The new SEND and AP Improvement Plan sets out how the government will work alongside children, young people and their families and those who work across the special education needs and disability (SEND) and alternative provision (AP) systems to deliver improvements for every affected child and young person. 

This plan follows the SEND and alternative provision green paper, consulted on in March last year, which identified three key challenges facing the SEND and AP provision system: 

• navigating the SEND and AP systems;
• outcomes for children and young people with SEND or in AP;
• a financially unsustainable system.

According to Statista, just under 1.5m pupils in England have special educational needs, an increase of 77,000 from 2021. With these growing numbers, improving the SEND and AP systems in the UK is crucial for providing better outcomes for affected children.

How to improve

The plan aims to make changes in the following areas:

• Training: there will be training for thousands of school staff so children can get the help they need earlier, as well as guides for professionals to help them provide the right support in line with the national standards, suited to each child’s unique experience, and setting out, for example, how to make adjustments to classrooms to help children remain in mainstream education.
• Schools: thousands of additional specialist school places for those with the greatest need – so far, 33 new special free schools are approved to be built.
• Internships: the number of supported internship places will be doubled by 2025 from around 2,500 to around 5,000. 
• AP specialist task forces: an extension of the AP specialist task forces will enable work directly with young people in AP to offer intensive support from experts, including mental health professionals, family workers and speech and language therapists. This will be backed by an additional £6m investment.
• A new approach to AP: this will focus on preparing children to return to mainstream education or prepare for adulthood.
• Short breaks: £30m of funding will go towards developing innovative approaches for short breaks for children, young people and their families, providing crucial respite for families of children with complex needs.
• Digital access: to improve parents’ and carers’ experiences of accessing support, the plan will make sure the process for assessing children and young people’s needs through education health and care plans is digital-first, and quicker and simpler wherever possible.

For more information, you can read the full plan here.