Responding to details of the SEND reforms to be included in the government's new Education for All Bill, which was outlined in the King's Speech this morning, Paul Whiteman, general secretary at school leaders’ union NAHT, said:

“The principle of equipping mainstream schools to be able to support more children with special educational needs, ensuring they can attend a local school wherever possible, is welcome.

“So too is the additional investment announced by the government. But school leaders have serious worries about their ability to implement reforms of this scale effectively with the proposed training and funding.

“No one is in any doubt that change is urgently needed to fix the broken SEND system. However, it is vital that the government ensures schools’ concerns are addressed and that they have the funding and access to specialist staff and services needed to deliver the support all children deserve.

“We need to see further details on how the proposed pooled funding would work, but it will be crucial that schools can access the money they need to support individual pupils with differing needs regardless of the type of school they are in - be it under a local authority umbrella or part of an academy trust.”

In a recent survey of its members in April on the White Paper proposals, NAHT found:

63% said they were broadly supportive of the proposals for reform of the SEND system.

80% said that the suggested timescales for curriculum and SEND reforms were unfeasible

86% said that their school would not have the capacity to implement the SEND reforms effectively with the proposed training and investment.