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The government has outlined ambitions to significantly reduce the educational attainment gap between disadvantaged students and their more privileged peers in England. This initiative aims to achieve halving the gap by the time children born during the current Parliament complete their secondary education. These plans are expected to be detailed in a forthcoming Schools White Paper scheduled for release on Monday morning.
Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson emphasized that the reforms are intended to move away from a “one-size-fits-all system” that she believes has historically hindered the success of children from less advantaged backgrounds. The government aims to overhaul how funding is allocated to schools to better support pupils from disadvantaged circumstances, with the objective of eliminating the link between a child’s background and their academic success. Phillipson described these changes as a “golden opportunity” for transforming educational outcomes.
Among the proposals are significant adjustments to how support is provided for children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). One notable change involves the reassessment of children with Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCPs) once they finish primary school, with these reviews set to begin in 2029 as part of a broader restructuring. Alongside this, there will be an expansion of statutory rights through school-led Individual Support Plans (ISPs) for all children identified with SEND, including those without EHCPs. These ISPs will carry a form of legal recognition.
Concerns have been raised by parents such as Hannah Luxford, whose son with anxiety faced a lengthy wait for an EHCP. She described the current system as “unhelpful, adversarial, complex” and worries about the safeguarding of existing legal protections under the new system. Meanwhile, experts like Luke Sibieta from the Institute for Fiscal Studies critique the current SEND provision as the “worst of all worlds,” citing rising EHCP numbers and costs without corresponding improvements in quality. Recent data from the Department for Education shows the disadvantage gap index for GCSE year 11s has widened post-pandemic, reaching 3.94 in 2022/23—the highest level in a decade
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