Schools White Paper, Every child achieving and thriving – LGA briefing

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Introduction

On 23 February the Government published a Schools White Paper, Every child achieving and thriving, which proposes significant reforms to the education and Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) systems in England. A consultation on reforms to the SEND system, SEND reform: putting children and young people first, was published alongside the Schools White Paper and sets out a broader set of reforms which build on the proposals set out in chapter 3 of the White Paper. The LGA will be working closely with member councils in the coming weeks to shape our consultation response.

Key LGA messages

  • Councils have long been calling for reform of the education system to ensure the needs of more children and young people with SEND can be met within mainstream settings where appropriate and without the need for a statutory plan. We are pleased that the government has acted on those calls, with an ambitious set of reforms with children and young people with SEND at their centre. We look forward to working with the government, including the Departments for Education, Health and Social Care and Housing, Communities and Local Government (we are clear that tackling the SEND crisis requires a cross-government response), as well as partners including parents and carers and, most importantly, children and young people themselves to co-produce these reforms with a clear focus on improving outcomes.
  • We will also continue to work with the Department of Education to support councils and partners to drive improvement in the existing system, ahead of these reforms being implemented.
  • The White Paper rightly acknowledges that reforms to the SEND system will be far-reaching and will need to be phased in over time, whilst ensuring that need continues to be met within the existing statutory framework. Timescales need to be kept under review to ensure they are realistic and there will need to be sufficient funding to both build capacity now and ensure that the transition to the new system is effective.
  • We welcome the inclusion of the early years and the recognition that getting it right early for children can have long-lasting impacts. We were particularly pleased to see national roll out of Best Start Family Hubs with a specific role for supporting families with SEND. This needs to be backed up by sufficient funding into the early years workforce, and continued recognition of and investment into councils’ key role in supporting inclusive early years systems.
  • The investment of £1.8 billion over three years to fund the ‘Experts at Hand’ programme of specialist support is welcome. We await further detail on how this funding will be allocated to councils and ICBs, as well as the conditions that accompany it. We also ask for confirmation that this is ‘new’ funding and is not coming from existing budgets for councils or education. In the meantime, we are concerned that ‘Experts at Hand’ could unrealistically raise expectations as to the level of support that will be available, particularly given the time it will take to embed these proposals in local areas.
  • We welcome the proposal to change the law on independent special schools to ensure that children get suitable high-quality placements and that councils pay a reasonable price for them.
  • We also welcome the proposal to enable councils to establish school trusts. However, there is no detail on how the intention of “moving to all schools joining or forming high-quality school trusts” is to be achieved. We believe that it should be open to schools to choose to become an academy and join a trust but would not want to see compulsion. Other models of collaboration should be permitted if they are successful at delivering school improvement.
  • Finally, these reforms must be financially sustainable to ensure they stand the test of time and can deliver the right outcomes for children both now and in the future. The recent announcement that 90 per cent of councils’ historic Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) deficits will be written off is welcome and provides councils with some breathing space whilst reforms set out in the White Paper are implemented and capacity in the existing system is increased. But the 90 per cent write-off implies that councils will have to manage a residual debt of around £500 million while the OBR has forecast that new deficits of £8.7 billion will then accrue over 2026-27 and 2027-28. To ensure that discussions on reform focus solely on meeting the needs of children and young people with SEND quickly and effectively, government must commit to ensuring that all DSG deficits are written off, ahead of the statutory override ending in March 2028.
  • Councils will also need additional funding to meet the growing need for home-to-school transport for children and young people with SEND.

1. Our children’s futures

Summary of white paper proposals 

  • This chapter sets out the Government’s ambition for all children to enjoy a childhood rich in opportunity. Every Best Start Family Hub will have a dedicated SEND practitioner, backed by over £200 million investment over three years.
  • There will be additional funding from the government’s Inclusive Early Years Fund to early years providers to identify and respond where children have emerging additional needs.
  • A Childcare and Early Education Review will look at how to improve access to early education and care, making the system simpler for families and delivering a coherent local offer.
  • Government will create a new model of local partnership and shared accountability for children’s outcomes across local communities. The aim is to enable the conditions that allow a sense of collective endeavour and responsibility: binding local government, schools and trusts, Integrated Care Boards, police, and other local stakeholders around the aim of delivering shared outcomes for children and young people.  

LGA view 

  • We welcome the recognition of the crucial role of councils in supporting the delivery of high- quality education and childcare and will continue to work with government to shape the Childcare and Early Education Review.
  • The White Paper recognises that new partnerships will need to be built at a local level to support a shared ambition to see every child achieving and thriving. We look forward to working with the Government and partners to establish shared local accountability.
  • We have welcomed the national roll out of Best Start Family Hubs and the increased focus on supporting families with SEND. We know that too often it can be challenging for families to access the support that they need early on. It is important that this support is flexible to enable local areas to align it with existing approaches, and to ensure there are not further barriers to families or siloes between services.
  • New inclusion funding at an early stage that removes bureaucracy and is targeted at ensuring children and early years providers get the support they need, is crucial. We would like to see this funding allocated to local authorities so that they can improve the coordination of services at a local level, rather than piecemeal funding being given to providers. This reflects the findings set out in our report on SEND and the early years that this is the most impactful and innovative way to use additional funding.   

2. Narrow to broad

Summary of white paper proposals 

  • This chapter sets out the ambition that schools provide children with a rich and broad education that supports educational success, ignites curiosity and lays the foundations for a rich and fulfilling life and career.
  • This begins with strong foundations through a broad early years curriculum. Excellence in maths and science will provide the problem-solvers of tomorrow.
  • A strong enrichment offer and revitalised arts curriculum will spark children’s creativity. Access to sports, culture and nature will expand their horizons. Civic engagement will stretch their abilities beyond the classroom.
  • Partnerships between early years settings and schools will be funded to test and implement different approaches to transitions, including for children with SEND.
  • Alan Milburn’s Young People and Work investigation is referenced, which will recommend ways to increase opportunities for young people not in education, employment or training.
  • Improving partnerships between early years settings and schools is key and government would expect local government to be a crucial partner in this to ensure the right support is wrapped around children and their families.  

LGA view 

  • Councils’ current post-16 statutory duties are to provide sufficient education and training places for 16- and 17-year-olds (up to 25 for those with an EHC plan) through Raising Participation Age (RPA) legislation and the ‘September Guarantee’. Councils also identify and track young people at risk of, or who are not in education, employment and training. On the ground, they see a lack of sufficient and appropriate post-16 education and training provision and settings. The LGA is already working with DfE, councils and Strategic Authorities (SAs) to work through statutory duty reforms set out in the Skills White Paper (2025).
  • Careers Hubs (co-funded and supported by councils and mayors) are well placed to promote careers education. The Government’s two-week ambition for work experience (Years 7–11) is ambitious, and while good work is happening, more resource is required to strengthen local employer engagement especially in areas with high numbers of SMEs.
  • Addressing the high numbers of young people not in education, employment and training is a national and local priority. This is why the LGA is engaging with the Milburn investigation. We are keen to explore how with powers and funding, local government can play a lead role connecting 16- to 24-year-olds at risk of, or who are, not in education, employment and training with jobs, learning and support they need locally, as set out in LGA’s Youth Pathways Service, part of our wider Work Local offer to Government. We also need the Government to provide access to the Youth Guarantee to all areas across England quickly. 

3. Sidelined to included

Summary of white paper proposals 

  • This chapter sets out reforms to the system that supports children and young people with SEND, as well as disadvantaged children more broadly. The Government has published a separate consultation on SEND reform: SEND Reform: Putting Children and Young People First which sits alongside this White Paper.
  • Reforms focus on the creation of a single education system for all children and young people, with SEND integrated into the mainstream education system to ensure that support can be provided earlier. The aim is that commonly-occurring needs can be consistently met in mainstream education.
  • For children and young people who need additional help to access education, support will be organised across two additional layers – Targeted (including Targeted Plus) and Specialist. Specialist support will use nationally-defined Specialist Provision Packages for children with the most complex needs. These will be developed and reviewed by an independent expert panel.
  • £1.8 billion is committed over the next three years to enable local authorities and Integrated Care Boards to establish an ‘Experts at Hand’ Offer.
  • £1.6 billion is committed for a new Inclusive Mainstream Fund over three years. This new fund will give schools and other education settings direct responsibility over funding to empower them to deliver for children and young people with SEND. This will enable them to plan proactively and flexibly for commonly-occurring needs and encourage earlier and more effective support. They will be able to use this funding, combined with funding for inclusion already in their budgets, to develop targeted, evidence-based support offers.
  • Working with experts, new Specialist Provision Packages will be introduced which will form the basis for an EHCP. These will be nationally defined, evidence-based packages of support for children and young people with the most complex needs.
  • From now until new legislation begins, the current SEND system – including all existing duties, rights and funding routes – will remain in place, and the Government will ensure these duties continue to be met.
  • After legislation takes effect, children with an existing EHCP will have a needs assessment as they approach the end of each phase of education. All children transitioning from an EHCP to an Individual Support Plan will retain the right to request a mainstream placement, and no child will move from a special school or college unless they choose to do so.
  • The Government will change the law on independent special schools to ensure that children get suitable high-quality placements and that local authorities pay a reasonable price for them. 

LGA view 

Early years

  • We welcome the focus on the early years, particularly on ensuring that the early years workforce have the skills, experience and knowledge to best support young children and ensure long term outcomes, as well as work effectively with families. Getting it right in the early years can have a long term, positive impact on children’s outcomes and this should be embedded across SEND reform.  

An inclusive mainstream system

  • The LGA welcomes the proposal to integrate the SEND system within the mainstream education to ensure that support can be provided at an earlier stage, reflecting a long-standing LGA ask.
  • We want to work with children and young people with SEND themselves, as well as parents and carers and partners in education and health, including ICBs locally (who are going through their own reorganisation, which risks their ability to prioritise supporting children and young people with SEND), to make this a reality.
  • The proposed introduction of two layers of additional support within mainstream, targeted (included targeted plus) and specialist, if backed by sufficient investment for settings, should help to ensure that many more children and young people with SEND can have their needs met quickly and effectively in future, without the need for a statutory plan.
  • Ensuring mainstream settings are adequately resourced to meet the needs of more children and young people with SEND will be crucial to the success or failure of these reforms. £1.6 billion for settings over three years from 2026-27 is welcome in supporting this endeavour, but the Government must commit to monitoring whether this funding is sufficient to meet changes in need within mainstream settings and provide assurances that this is ‘new’ money.
  • We support the proposal that every school should be part of a local grouping to work together on SEND, and that councils have a central role in shaping these groups within local areas and that they will not be determined by a school’s structural status. 

Specialist support

  • The investment of £1.8 billion over three years to fund the ‘Experts at Hand’ programme of specialist support is welcome. We await further detail on how this funding will be allocated to councils and ICBs, as well as the conditions that accompany it. We also ask for confirmation that this is ‘new’ funding and is not coming from existing budgets for councils or education. In the meantime, we are concerned that ‘Experts at Hand’ could unrealistically raise expectations as to the level of support that will be available, particularly given the time it will take to embed these proposals in local areas.
  • We support the development of nationally-defined and evidence-based Specialist Provision Packages for children with the most complex needs, which will provide clarity for local education and SEND systems on how the needs of these children will be met. 

Local SEND partnerships

  • The LGA has long called for the creation of local inclusion partnerships, and we are therefore supportive of the proposal to strengthen local SEND strategic partnerships. Councils, with their democratic mandate, are ideally placed to lead local SEND systems and hold partners to account for their work in supporting children and young people with SEND. There must be clarity on who holds accountability for outcomes and statutory duties where responsibilities are shared across councils, health and education. Without that, there is a risk that accountability becomes blurred while councils retain legal responsibility. 

Implementation

  • Sequencing the proposed reforms, with a focus on building capacity within settings in advance of legislative change is welcome, as is the commitment that no child or young person will move into the new system until 2029-30 at the earliest. It is vital that children and young people with SEND, and their families, have confidence that reforms will not be rushed and that there is capacity within the new system to meet need effectively. It is right that no child or young person will move from a special placement unless they choose to do so.
  • To ensure that councils, working with partners, can focus solely on meeting the needs of children and young people with SEND quickly and effectively in a reformed system, the Government must commit to ensuring that all DSG deficits are written off, ahead of the statutory override ending in March 2028, as well as providing additional funding for home-to-school transport for children and young people with SEND. 

Independent Special Schools

  • We welcome the proposal to change the law on independent special schools to ensure that children get suitable high-quality placements and that councils pay a reasonable price for them. While we are not opposed to some level of profit being made within the independent sector, it is right that the Government limits to this to ensure that limited resources are focussed on meeting the needs of children and young people. We look forward to working with Government to develop these proposals further. 

4. Withdrawn to engaging

Summary of white paper proposals 

  • This chapter sets out the government’s vision for high expectations for academic excellence and deep pupil engagement to go hand in hand. It says every school and every classroom should be a safe, calm and supportive place, where every child feels they belong. This vision requires strong partnerships between families and schools, with parents included and engaged in their child’s learning, attendance and behaviour at school – including when their child moves within the school system.
  • To help parents to engage, government will give them a more complete picture of their child’s school. By 2029, government expects every school to monitor pupils’ sense of belonging and engagement so that more children – including those who are disadvantaged or have SEND – will feel a sense of belonging in school.
  • Government will work closely with schools, trusts, local authorities, communities, families and family-facing organisations to establish minimum expectations that supports the creation of meaningful home-to-school partnerships. These principles will make clear what families can expect from schools, and what schools will expect of families in return.
  • Local authorities, as well as schools, play a critical role in supporting attendance. The government has been working across the country to strengthen school attendance support teams and implement an approach based on ‘support first’, with most local authority teams now meeting regularly with schools to agree individual plans for the most complex cases. Government will deploy specialist attendance advisers to support and challenge local authorities with high need, and those deploying innovative approaches.
  • Government will reduce the impact on attendance of children residing in temporary accommodation by providing clearer guidance, alongside the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, to ensure that continued school attendance is a priority when securing accommodation.
  • Government will introduce a new duty on councils to notify schools, health visitors and GPs that a child is in temporary accommodation. This will help improve partnership working and ensure services are aware of the household’s status, so they are able to provide appropriate support.

LGA view 

  • The White Paper recognises the crucial role of councils in supporting schools to encourage high attendance, and it is positive that additional support will be provided for attendance advisers that both support areas with the greatest need and spreads good practice between areas.
  • We want to ensure that all children and young people feel supported to stay in education, particularly if they are in temporary accommodation. We have been working closely with the Government on the impact to local services on the new duty to inform schools and other partners of a children’s temporary accommodation status and will continue to keep this impact under review.  

5. Support and investment in high-quality staff

Summary of white paper proposals 

  • This chapter sets out the vision for a new model of supporting and enabling excellence within the system through innovation and working in genuine partnership with leaders, teachers and support staff.
  • It outlines how the Government will support, empower and invest in expert leaders, teachers and support staff in every school to ensure a highly trained workforce to deliver for children with special educational needs and disabilities in their local mainstream school.
  • Commitments include improving professional development for staff at all points in their career and investing in training to ensure that teachers can identify and meet a broader range of needs, including the needs of children with SEND, training on inclusion, bringing forward an offer of a new Teacher Training Entitlement (TTE).
  • The chapter restates the effort to recruit 6,500 teachers through a delivery plan which includes optimising inclusive routes into teaching, improving teaching experience and boosting retention, and developing and expanding career-long development opportunities.
  • The government will fund schools to improve maternity pay, doubling the period of full pay from the current offer of 4 weeks to 8 weeks for school teachers and leaders from the 2027/28 academic year.
  • Alongside this, the government will provide funding for school support staff and will remit the new School Support Staff Negotiating Body (SSSNB) to negotiate an equivalent improvement to maternity pay for support staff in its first year of operation.
  • The chapter restates the commitment to ensuring that new teachers have or are working towards achieving Qualified Teacher Status.
  • The government will continue our work to reform statutory pay and conditions for teachers and leaders and will remove the ceiling on pay. 

LGA view 

  • The increase to maternity pay is a significant change to terms and conditions. We welcome the principle and government commitment to funding that increase to maternity pay and look forward to better understanding the detail sitting behind that funding, and discussing via National Employers Organisation for School Teachers (NEOST), how those terms and conditions are to be amended.
  • We recognise this government’s priority in restoring the SSSNB and are keen to ensure associated risks, such as those relating to equal pay are mitigated and all costs associated with the body met by central government.
  • We note the commitment to lifting the ceiling on pay and understand the rationale behind this. That said, we remain keen to avoid unevenly driving up pay creating a disadvantage for schools with greater funding challenges and look forward to working with DfE to mitigate that risk. 

6. Collaboration between schools and with other partners

Summary of white paper proposals 

  • This chapter sets out plans to put collaboration at the heart of the system by moving to all schools joining or forming high-quality school trusts, including enabling new local authority established trusts.
  • School trusts created by local authorities will deepen collaborative partnerships that have developed in the maintained sector by bringing them into the shared governance and accountability structure of a trust. Government knows that there is excellent school improvement work already being delivered in many parts of the country, including through school companies and other forms of partnership, and wants to see these grow and flourish through the school trust system.
  • Recognising the pivotal role of local authorities in safeguarding, supporting, and promoting the welfare of all children in their area, the Government will strengthen and clarify how local authorities and school trusts should work together, building on best practice from existing place-based partnerships. The chapter makes clear that local authorities – through their statutory duties, democratic mandate and geographic scale – are well placed to play a proactive leadership role.
  • High-quality trusts must be rooted in their communities to play their part as civic institutions. Government will expect all school trusts to look outwards with purpose, to share expertise, and support others to improve. This includes embedding collaboration into the standards required of trusts and the Government will encourage school trusts to report on how they have supported stronger outcomes in their community role through annual public benefit reporting. Once established, the government will hold school trusts to account for this role through trust inspection.

LGA view 

  • We support the ambition to widen and deepen collaboration between schools to strengthen school improvement and, as the White Paper recognises, excellent school improvement work is already being delivered in the council-maintained sector in many parts of the country, including through school companies and other forms of partnership.
  • We welcome the proposal to enable councils to establish school trusts. However, there is no detail on how the intention of “moving to all schools joining or forming high-quality school trusts” is to be achieved. We believe that it should be open to schools to choose to become an academy and join a trust but would not want to see compulsion. Other models of collaboration should be permitted if they are successful at delivering school improvement.
  • We await further details on how the Government will move schools into high-quality trusts, but are concerned that further structural change will need to be carefully managed when set against the Local Government Reorganisation agenda, as well as reforms to ICBs, children’s social care, early years and SEND.

7. Enabling innovation and ambition

Summary of proposals 

  • This chapter sets out the government’s ambition for innovation to be a defining feature of a school system that delivers for every child, including the development of safe, evidence-based and innovative EdTech and AI products.
  • Government will expect all AI tools used by schools to meet high standards of safety and quality and will work to support the development and trialling of AI tutoring tools for secondary school children.
  • Government will work with industry to drive adoption of national standards and digital National Curriculum to improve the safety and quality of tools.
  • Government will invest an additional £23 million to expand the EdTech Impact Testbed pilot into a 4-year programme and develop our wider research strategy to understand the effects of AI on learning and wellbeing. 

LGA view 

  • We support the proposal to make a self-improving school system a reality. Councils are strong supporters of a school-led improvement system. As mentioned previously, the White Paper recognises excellent school improvement work is already being delivered in the council-maintained sector in many parts of the country, including through school companies and other forms of partnership.
  • The deployment of AI tools in schools creates immediate obligations for councils around procurement governance, algorithmic assurance and equalities compliance. The LGA has called for a consistent responsible buying framework for AI and for mandatory third-party supplier assurance, noting that councils currently carry out assurance processes themselves with no standardised approach. Any AI tool used for SEND identification under the new Individual Support Plan must comply with data protection regulations and the Public Sector Equality Duty, including assessing risks of discriminatory or biased outcomes. Schools and councils should follow the LGA’s Responsible Buying of AI guidance, developed with the ICO and EHRC, to ensure transparent, legally compliant procurement.
  • The White Paper introduces a new statutory duty on all nurseries, schools and colleges to record SEND needs in Individual Support Plans. The new £1.8bn Experts at Hand multi-agency service will create significant new data flows between councils, schools and NHS Integrated Care Boards. Current EHCP and case management systems are unlikely to be ISP-ready without upgrade or replacement. Data Sharing Agreements with ICB partners must be developed, and legal advice sought on data controller status as the trust landscape changes.
  • Digital inclusion is a cross-cutting risk across the White Paper's reforms that requires a co-ordinated local response. The White Paper's ambitions assume digital access and literacy that is not equally distributed across communities or in council areas. Unless addressed proactively, the reforms risk deepening existing inequalities rather than reducing them.
  • The LGA has identified digital exclusion as a key risk in the AI and digital transformation agenda and has called for stronger central-local partnerships to deliver equitable digital infrastructure. The LGA has also recommended that councils' role in community engagement on digital access be formally recognised in the Government's AI Opportunities Action Plan implementation.