SEND

SEND: what’s changing?

A close look at the government’s new SEND Improvement Plan and what it means for early years providers

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The government has published a new SEND Improvement Plan following last year’s consultation on a range of proposals to improve the accessibility and availability of SEND provision from the ages of 0 to 25.

Introducing the plan, ministers Gillian Keegan and Steve Barclay said: “The steps in this Plan cannot be delivered by government alone and local system leaders can start now in learning from and adopting good practice from elsewhere. We ask that you join with us to rise to the challenge, and we look forward to working with you to deliver a single national system that delivers consistently for every child and young person with SEND and in alternative provision.”

The full document is available on the government website at bit.ly/SENDplans. Here, we’ve summarised the key policies from the report that are likely to impact early years providers in the coming years:

Creation of a new SEND system

The government is aiming to establish a new SEND system that caters for families and children aged 0 to 25. The key missions of the new system will be to fulfil children’s potential, build parent’s trust and provide financial sustainability.

Creation of National Standards

The foundation for the new SEND system will be new, evidenced-based National Standards which will be implemented to improve the early identification of needs and intervention and will set out clear expectations for the type of support that should be available in mainstream settings.

The new standards will clarify:

  • what type of support should be made available
  • whose job it is to make different types of provision available
  • and which budgets should be used to pay for support

To aid the development of national standards, later this year the government plans to engage with various parties across the education, health and care sectors including parents, frontline professionals and local authorities.

SEND early years funding review

In the report, the government recognised “the important role of the early years sector in the early identification of needs and in building up effective working relationships with parents about their child’s needs”.

To ensure early years funding is “appropriate and well-targeted to improve outcomes for children in the early years with SEND and additional needs”, the government says it will review whether there should be changes to the SEND Inclusion Fund. This is the pot of funding that local authorities use to provide additional top-up funding to providers who educate and care for children with SEND. The government will also review whether there should be changes to the early years funding system more widely under the new system.

Workforce and training

The government plans to train up to 5,000 early years professionals to gain an accredited Level 3 early years Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator (Senco) qualification. The training is expected to run until August 2024.

The training is available to all Sencos working in early years group-based and childminder settings. Additional training will be targeted at specific areas based on local levels of disadvantage.

The government has also undertaken a review of the Early Years Educator (EYE) Level 3 criteria and has consulted on the inclusion of SEND as a standalone criterion to ensure all EYE courses include a specific focus on supporting children with SEND. The consultation response to this will be published later this Spring.


Next steps following the Improvement Plan 2023

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Our publication, Effective SEND Practice in the Early Years: Next Steps following the Improvement Plan 2023, explores these changes and considers what they mean for the early years sector. It helps educators to develop their practice and ensure provision is inclusive.

This electronic publication:

  • defines what is meant by SEND
  • explains how to create an inclusive and enabling environment
  • considers ways of identifying emerging areas of support, explores how to secure support
  • outlines ways to effectively work with parents and professionals, and what is meant by ‘working from a strength perspective’.

Order your downloadable copy now 
The Alliance will update this electronic publication as more information becomes available. Renewed versions will be sent out to all people who have purchased a copy.

Buy your copy now at bit.ly/SENDeya.