The Executive Member for Children's Services, Councillor Prue Bray, is scheduled to consider the Wokingham SEND Reform Plan at an upcoming Individual Member Decision meeting. This plan outlines the local area's approach to transforming services for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).

Wokingham SEND Reform Plan

The primary focus of the meeting is the consideration of the Wokingham SEND Reform Plan. This plan is being developed in response to national reforms announced by the Department for Education (DfE) in February 2026, aiming to create a more inclusive, consistent, and sustainable system for SEND services. The report pack indicates that the plan is intended to identify needs early and meet them effectively across education, health, and care services.

The proposed reforms centre on providing early support and clear protections for children with complex needs, ensuring a smooth transition to a new system that maintains effective support for all. The plan details a tiered approach to support, starting with a universal offer accessible to all children, followed by targeted, targeted plus, and specialist support for those with additional needs.

A key element of the reform is the Experts at Hand offer, designed to strengthen the capability of mainstream education settings. This initiative aims to provide schools with access to specialist support from professionals in education and health, such as educational psychologists, speech and language therapists, and occupational therapists. The goal is to enhance early identification and intervention, reduce the escalation of needs, and make better use of the specialist workforce. The plan also addresses sufficiency and place planning, with a focus on investing in mainstream settings and inclusion bases to meet the needs of children and young people with SEND locally.

The report highlights the collaborative nature of the plan's development, involving extensive engagement with partners across education, health, social care, and the voluntary sector, as well as children, young people, and their families. The plan is scheduled for submission to the DfE on 19 June 2026. Successful sign-off is anticipated to unlock significant funding from central government to alleviate pressure on the High Needs Block deficit.

The financial implications of the recommendation are detailed, with projected costs for the current and next financial years expected to be covered by grant and reserves. The report also notes that the sign-off of the SEND Reform Plan will clear a substantial portion of the historic High Needs Block cumulative deficit.

The report pack includes the full SEND Reform Plan document, which outlines the vision, strategy, monitoring, governance, and funding arrangements for the reform. It details the proposed roadmap for the next three years, with a specific focus on the delivery plan for the first year, 2026-27. This includes outlining workstreams, milestones, and projected spending. The plan also addresses stakeholder engagement, risks, dependencies, and the proposed governance structures for overseeing the reform's implementation.