Commenting as the government releases new details on its Experts at Hand programme, designed to expand access to specialist support for SEND pupils, Paul Whiteman, general secretary of school leaders’ union NAHT, said:

“Too often schools and families face long delays in securing support for pupils from experts like educational psychologists, speech and language therapists and children’s mental health services – and in some cases they may be unable to access support at all.

“Fixing this will be absolutely crucial if the government’s proposals for more children with special educational needs (SEND) to be supported in mainstream schools are to prove effective, and we welcome the investment in and principles behind the proposed Experts at Hand scheme.

“However, for Experts at Hand to succeed it will need to be supported by the funding and planning needed to solve the root cause of the existing issues – there simply aren’t enough specialists.

“The government must ensure it commits enough funding to training and recruiting more specialists across education, health and care, and that the resources provided do not simply rebadge or restructure the existing overstretched specialist workforce.

“Without access to this support, children’s needs escalate, and families and schools are left navigating a system that feels painfully slow and struggles to offer the timely help children require.

“If the government gets its Experts at Hand proposal right, it could be transformative. If not, a central plank of its far-reaching plans to reform SEND will be undermined and will continue to leave children and parents without the support they desperately need.”