Delivering health support as part of Education, Health and Care plans
5 mins read
Tuesday 31 March 2026
Earlier this month, Contact CEO Anna Bird gave evidence to the Health and Social Care parliamentary committee about delivery of health support in education, health and care (EHC) plans.
The committee is feeding into the schools white paper consultation, in particular focusing on the importance of delivering health support.
Health support in schools can be anything from speech and language and occupational therapy to clinical support such as changing a tracheostomy or managing medication.
Anna Bird said:
“We hear from families every day struggling to get health support. Families having to wait until there is a crisis, waiting for a diagnosis, waiting until a child falls out of school until support is offered. The impact of that is children not being in school, not making friends and all the things we hope for, for our children. This is down to a lack of accountability for delivering health support.”
During the session, Anna was asked what good health support would look like. She emphasised the need for timely access to therapeutic support and an end to the current gatekeeping and waiting list management.
What does the white paper say about health?
Since its publication, Contact’s policy and helpline teams have been looking in detail at the schools white paper.
Key points include:
- Experts at Hand will give schools better access to Speech and Language, Physio and Occupational therapists and Educational Psychologists.
- Reforms will work ‘hand-in-hand’ with the NHS 10 Year Health Plan, based on early intervention to stop needs escalating via integrated health, care, and family services.
- Explicit pledge to protect and enhance EHCPs for children with the most complex needs. However, there’s no definition of complex needs.
Experts at Hand
Experts at Hand will be banks of specialists that schools can call on when required. Specialists will include educational psychologists, speech and language and physiotherapists. The proposals say this resource will be ready by 2028.
While the commitment and level of funding is positive, we know the need in schools is high. There are current specialist workforce issues to overcome in a tight timeframe. In addition, Experts at Hand is a system level entitlement, not a legal right. It will be available to children getting Targeted Support Plus – the main way of meeting the needs of many children who currently qualify for an EHC plan. If parents are unhappy with the support, they must use the school complaints process.
Fast track pathway to specialised support for under-fives
The Department for Education (DfE) is working with the NHS to develop a fast-track pathway to specialist provision for under-fives.
This is welcome, especially for children who have continuing care needs. But there are children with cognitive, behavioural and medical complexities who struggle to get assessments and genetic testing at this stage. They could miss this pathway.
We would like to see the fast-track pathway for EHC plans regardless of a child’s age.
Areas of development (versus areas of need)
The white paper proposes updating the Code of Practice to change how children’s special educational needs (SEN) are assessed and recorded in schools and nurseries.
The four current areas of need would be replaced by five areas of development. These would be used across universal support, targeted support, targeted plus and specialist support.
Autism and ADHD
We welcome the suggestion that ADHD would move from a social, emotional and mental health need to a cognition and learning development area.
Parents of autistic children, however, may worry about how the new areas of development would work for their child. Autism is characterised by impaired social communication. Yet autistic children’s speech and language needs are likely to fall under the social and emotional development area under these proposed reforms.
Mental health
As part of the government’s Plan for Change to address attendance and behaviour, it has committed to rolling out mental health teams to schools from 2025-2030. The plan is for all pupils to have access to mental health support by 2029/30.
The white paper proposes that mental health needs will no longer be treated as an area of development category. This is a concern when evidence shows that the mental health needs of children are escalating.
In addition, we are disappointed that proposals do not address the mental health impact of large, busy, results-driven schools, which can lead to overwhelm in some children. During our focus group sessions, this has come out strongly as a suggestion for a low-cost change that could make schools more welcoming.
How to respond to the consultation
Our focus groups have now finished. We are very grateful to the parents who attended and gave such informed observations and insights. These will help shape our response.
You can respond to the government consultation individually. You can take part online. Or you can also respond to this consultation via email at [email protected], or by post to:
SENDAP Reform, Sanctuary Buildings, Great Smith Street, London, SW1P 3BT
The consultation closes on 11:59pm on 18 May 2026.