Norfolk County Council response to the Government's SEND Reform consultation
As mentioned by Sara Tough before the half term, we said we'd shared more detail on how we responded to the Government's national consultation on SEND Reform, which closed on 18 May.
Our response reflects wide engagement with school leaders, inclusion leaders, health colleagues, parents and carers, and system partners over recent weeks. Your contributions have directly shaped our position.
Overall, we support the direction of travel set out by Government. However, we have been clear that successful delivery will depend on:
- sufficient and sustainable funding for schools and the wider system
- stronger national consistency
- a system that is practical, evidence-based and financially viable
We also highlighted the importance of stronger regulation of the independent sector to help control costs and support system-wide improvement.
Without these conditions in place, there is a risk that reforms could increase demand, widen inequalities and place further pressure on schools and local services. Our view is that reform should reduce demand through earlier identification and support, rather than shift pressure between parts of the system.
We support inclusion in mainstream education as the default. For this to work in practice, schools will need:
- improved and more consistent funding
- increased workforce capacity
- clearer national expectations and standards
We also support a stronger focus on early intervention and better integration of services around children and families.
Key risks we identified included:
- insufficient funding in mainstream settings to deliver meaningful inclusion
- an overly narrow approach to specialist provision
- gaps in support for children outside registered education
- workforce and demand pressures not being fully addressed in current proposals
As you know, Norfolk's Local SEND Reform Plan is in development and will be submitted by 19 June. This will set out how we translate national proposals into meaningful change locally. We will continue to work closely with you as this develops.
You can read our full submission on the Norfolk SEND Local Offer area of the council's website :
