Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department plans for decisions on Individual Support Plans to be within the scope of (a) the First-tier Tribunal (SEND) or (b) another independent adjudication route.

Individual Support Plans (ISPs) will provide a record of need and provision for all children and young people with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND). They will allow settings to work alongside parents, providing a single, consistent record of what support has been tried, what has worked and what needs to change.

Under our proposals, ISPs will not be in scope for the SEND Tribunal nor for any other independent adjudication route. Where there are concerns about provision, parents and young people would be able to raise these directly with the setting, including through the improved schools complaints process where necessary.

We will seek to strengthen the school complaints system with the inclusion of an appropriate, independent SEND specialist such as a SENCO, MAT inclusion director, or senior school manager, on a panel, if the complaint cannot be resolved by the school’s senior management team or head teacher.

The SEND Tribunal remains an important legal backstop for the most important Education, Health and Care (EHC) plan decisions. Families will be able to appeal the most important decisions around needs assessment, eligibility for a specialist provision package, the type of package, the placement and outcome of an EHC plan review.