SEND reform proposals: Individual Support Plans
5 mins read
Monday 19 October 2026
Under the Schools White Paper proposals, all schools, nurseries and colleges would have a legal duty to produce an Individual Support Plan (ISP) for every child with a special educational need (SEN).
This means:
- There is a clear legal duty for settings to produce an ISP for each child with SEN. Settings must record and monitor the support provided. The plan will be digital.
- Each ISP must be reviewed annually.
- Parents should be involved in producing the ISP.
- However, there is no proposed legal duty for settings to deliver the support set out in an ISP.
- If the ISP is not meeting need or being delivered, parents would go through the school’s complaints process, and then an independent panel, for redress.
It’s important to remember that these are just proposals and nothing has changed. If you are told your child’s rights have changed because of the government’s White Paper proposals, that is not correct.
Whatever is proposed will need to go through Parliament. Nothing changes during that process.
What are Targeted and Specialist layers of support?
Schools would provide support to children with ISPs at two layers: Targeted (including Targeted Plus) and Specialist.
Targeted and Targeted Plus support would replace the current SEN support for children without education, health and care (EHC) plans.
Targeted support is structured support within mainstream settings, including small-group work or personalised materials. This is predominantly in the classroom, but where appropriate children may receive support in the school’s Inclusion Base.
Targeted Plus would provide access to specialists like education psychologists and speech and language therapists through the government’s new Experts at Hand services. It may also include accessing Inclusion Bases within mainstream settings.
Specialist support is a higher level of help. Children receiving specialist support will have Specialist Provision Packages (SSPs). And only children with SSPs will have EHC plans.
The reforms anticipate that over time, more children and young people will receive support through the Targeted and Targeted plus layers in mainstream education.
Contact’s view on ISPs: they must be legally enforceable
Strengthening support for children and young people without an EHC plan is vital to ensure mainstream schools are truly inclusive.
More children and young people with SEN having a plan for how their needs should be met is a hugely positive step towards genuine inclusion. But there must be a statutory duty to deliver the support set out in an ISP. If not, these proposals risks repeating the flaws of the current SEN support system.
In 2025, Contact and IPSEA surveyed 2,000 families with children and young people who have SEN, but not an EHC plan. Only 8% agreed that SEN Support is meeting their child’s needs. The current SEN support system is not working, because it’s unclear what support is available and to who.
There’s also no duty to provide. It becomes a school-by-school lottery depending on resources and culture. This is leading to children being unsupported in school, needs escalating, and families and schools applying for an EHC plan to get the support they need.
That’s why it’s fundamental that there is a duty to deliver support set out in an ISP. We are urging the government to ensure these plans are legally enforceable.
Rethink needed on complaints system
We also urge the government to rethink their proposals to create a school-based complaints system for when ISPs are not working.
It’s imperative that there is an independent body to assess complaints. Schools should not be investigating complaints about their own decisions. We are concerned that this process would damage relationships between parents and schools.
We are calling for a widening of the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman’s remit to investigate ISP complaints. This would provide parents and young people with an independent backstop with the power to order remedies when settings fail to fulfil their duties.
The government proposes additional Governor oversight duties and new Ofsted focus on inclusion. But this will not be enough to provide the accountability needed for ISPs to work.
We’d like to see a fast-track school complaints process for ISP issues. A school panel with SEND expertise and the power to resolve issues could first consider complaints and challenges. Escalation to an independent panel could direct schools to provide support and trigger an EHC needs assessment if needed. If problems persist, parents could complain to the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman, which would have powers to hold schools accountable.
How ISPs and EHC plans would work together
Under the proposals, children with an EHC plan will also have an ISP. It will be the ISP that sets out their needs and the support required for them to access education. If the support is inadequate, inappropriate or not being delivered, parents will go through the ISP complaints process, rather than the SEND Tribunal.
Contact would like the ISP to include the right to appeal to the SEND Tribunal if the support isn’t delivered.