Petition Commission independent inquiry into delays in SEND education provision

Government responded

This response was given on 24 November 2025

The government is committed to working with families to reform the SEND system and learning from independent inquiries by the Public Accounts Committee and the Education Committee into SEND provision.

Every child in our country deserves the best possible school experience – one that is academically stretching, where every child feels like they belong, and that sets them up for life and work.

Both the Public Accounts Committee and the Education Select Committee have undertaken their own independent inquiries into SEND provision across England and published their findings earlier this year:

Support for children and young people with special educational needs - Committees - UK Parliament (https://committees.parliament.uk/work/8582/support-for-children-and-young-people-with-special-educational-needs/)

Solving the SEND Crisis - Committees - UK Parliament (https://committees.parliament.uk/work/8684/solving-the-send-crisis/)

Both inquiries highlight that children with SEND and their families are being let down by a system that is failing to meet their needs, hampering their outcomes at school and chance to get on in life.

As part of our Plan for Change, we are determined to fix the SEND system and restore the trust of parents. We will do this by ensuring schools have the tools to better identify and support children before issues escalate to crisis point.

We will strengthen accountability on mainstream settings to be inclusive including through the newly introduced Ofsted inspection framework; support the mainstream workforce to increase their SEND expertise and encourage schools to set up Resourced Provision or SEN units to increase capacity in mainstream schools. This will enable children to receive specialist support whilst learning alongside their friends and wider community.

This government is determined to deliver reform that stands the test of time and rebuilds the confidence of families, which is why we’re launching a further period of listening and engagement – testing our proposals with and seeking the views of parents, young people, teachers and experts in every region of the country, so that lived experience and partnership are at the heart of our solutions.

We know that families are crying out for change, and that is exactly why it is critical we get this right. We’ll set out the full Schools White Paper in the new year, building on the work we’ve already done to create a system that’s rooted in inclusion, where children receive high-quality support early on and can thrive at their local school.

Department for Education