What a busy September for Education Policy!
Just over two weeks into the new school year and it already feels like we’ve had a term’s worth of education policy updates. Since September we’ve had:
– A brand-new Ofsted Inspection Framework
– The Children’s Commissioner’s Childhood Plan
– The Education Committee’s Solving the SEND Crisis report
If that last one feels familiar, that’s because it is. The Education Committee first looked at SEND back in 2019. They made it very clear we were heading in the wrong direction. Six years later, another inquiry, and the findings are almost identical!
2019 Inquiry – Key findings
The Committee said the 2014 reforms (Children & Families Act) were “the right ones,” but implementation was badly hampered. They found:
- Parents in an adversarial system – families forced to “fight for support.”
- Inconsistency / postcode lottery – provision varied hugely between local authorities.
- Funding pressures – schools and LAs lacked resources to meet rising demand.
- Workforce issues – teachers lacked training in SEND; SENCOs under-resourced.
- EHC plans delayed – statutory deadlines often missed.
- Accountability weak – Ofsted and the DfE not holding LAs and schools to account.
- Poor multi-agency working – education, health, and care services fragmented.
The conclusion was stark: the reforms were not delivering, and the system was in crisis.
2025 Inquiry – Key findings (Solving the SEND Crisis)
Six years later, the new report finds:
- Still adversarial – parents lack trust, tribunals overwhelmingly favour families.
- Still inconsistent – no national standards for inclusive practice, SEN support varies.
- Still underfunded – local authority SEND deficits growing, schools overstretched.
- Still workforce gaps – shortages of specialists, training not embedded in ITT/CPD.
- Still delays – fewer than half of EHC plans completed in statutory timeframe.
- Still weak accountability – Ofsted criteria encourage exclusionary practices; LAs not held accountable.
- Still fragmented – health/social care not pulling weight; poor cross-agency coordination.
- Extra focus this time on:
o Early years under-resourcing.
o Post-16 “cliff edge.”
o Defining “inclusive mainstream education.”
The 2025 report is essentially saying: everything we warned about in 2019 is still happening. The themes are almost identical — adversarial processes, underfunding, workforce gaps, poor accountability, fragmented services — but with added urgency because numbers and complexity of need have grown even further since then.
The problem with reports
Sadly, the Children’s Commissioner’s and the Education Committee’s reports don’t change anything today. They won’t change anything next year. Probably not the year after either. What they might do is help shape the future. But even then, we know the process: the White Paper → consultation (where everyone gives the same answers as before, and probably ignored again) → debate → maybe a bill → and then finally implementation.
Meanwhile, every year wasted is another year too many, and children with SEND and their families continue to be failed.
Lots of people are excited about the Committee’s report — and yes, it’s good to have our experiences of the SEND system officially ratified. But it’s been ratified many times before, with no real change. I am disappointed by the lack of actual action.
What will actually have an impact now
The document that will actually have an impact this year is Ofsted’s new inspection framework. Not everyone is happy about it, but for SEND and Inclusion there is a lot to celebrate! From November there’s a stronger focus on inclusion, on how schools support pupils with SEND, and on showing progress for disadvantaged pupils — including those with SEND — from their starting points.
This matters. For 11 years, schools have used the language “working below” or “significantly below” for pupils not at Age Related Expectations (ARE). For children with SEND, this language is meaningless — it doesn’t support teachers, and it provides no evidence when schools fight for extra support. At B Squared, we’ve opposed this approach since it was introduced. Back when we had Levels and P Levels, schools knew where every child was working. It’s great that Ofsted has finally recognised that simply labelling pupils as “Below” fails children.
How B Squared is helping now?
At B Squared, we can’t wait for White Papers or another 6 years of reports. We help schools to act now:
✅ One assessment system for all pupils in primary (SEND is not an add-on)
✅ Show progress from each child’s starting point
✅ Use Evisense to build trust and collaboration with families
✅ Training and CPD through the SENDcast and SENDcast Sessions
✅ Analytics platform to help schools and with our trust and LA level data coming soon, plan smarter and evidence the impact
Over this term, we are running several webinars to support schools around SEND. Our new SEMH framework is designed to support schools, giving them a framework to better understand and support their students’ needs. The remaining webinars are all about progress, data and SEND pupils.
- Introduction to our new SEMH framework
- What is Good Progress for pupils with SEND?
- Governors and SEND Data: Part 1 (Guide for Senior Leaders)
- Governors and SEND Data: Part 2 (Guide for Governors)
Take action
Sign up for our webinars – FREE SEND Webinars to improve outcomes for pupils with SEND
Read more about education policy updates – Department for Education
Want to know more about how B Squared can help your school – Book a FREE online meeting
