Getting Started With SEND Laws
Understanding SEND legislation is key to ensuring the right support for children and young people. In this article, Colin Foley, Training Director at The ADHD Foundation Neurodiversity Charity, breaks down essential laws and regulations to help professionals navigate their responsibilities with confidence.
Understanding SEND Legislation in England
As a new or aspiring SENCO in England, it can seem daunting to get to grips with the range of legislation related to SEND. Here is a quick round up of the most important and relevant laws, what to look out for to ensure that your provision complies with current legislation, and links for further information.
The Equality Act 2010
Firstly, the Equality Act of 2010, this act is designed to address the disadvantage and discrimination experienced by particular groups of people, including children with SEND in schools (defined in the act as “protected characteristics”) and provides a legal framework for addressing these inequalities. The Equality Act also introduced the right to “reasonable adjustments” in schools for children with SEND.
An excellent overview of the Act is contained in “Disabled Children and the Equality Act 2010: What teachers need to know and what schools need to do” produced by the Council for Disabled Children in 2022.
The Children and Families Act 2014
Secondly, The Children and Families Act 2014. This act was enacted to provide the legal basis for identifying, assessing, and supporting children and young people with SEND. The act introduced a new system for supporting children with SEND, principally through the Education, Health and Care (EHC) needs assessment process and eventual plan. The act also developed the categorisation of SEND support and aims to integrate the planning and commissioning of services to increase the personalisation of support services as well as outlining the responsibilities of both schools and local authorities. The Act also introduced a requirement for every local authority to publish a Local Offer on their website.
The SEND Code of Practice
Contained within Part 3 of the Children and Families Act 2014, is a duty to follow the SEND Code of Practice (2014) Originally published in 2001, this Code was significantly revised in 2014 and has been regularly updated since then, the last time being 2024. The Code of Practice details the legal requirements that schools must follow without exception and explains the duties of local authorities, health bodies, schools and colleges to provide for those with special educational needs. In 2024, a new mandatory qualification for SENDCOs in England was introduced. This is called the National Professional Qualification (NPQ) for SENCOs. The NPQ replaced the National Award in Special Educational Needs Coordination (NASENCO) on September 1, 2024.
Special Educational Needs and Disability Regulations 2014
Sitting alongside the Children and Families Act of 2024 is the Special Educational Needs and Disability Regulations (2014.) These regulations are legally binding and underpin the 2014 Act of parliament. These regulations set out in detail how duties in the Children and Families Act of 2014 should be carried out, for example, they explain how EHC needs assessments must be carried out, how the plan is prepared, what it must contain and when it must be finalised by. The regulations also detail how EHC plans must be reviewed, changed and may be stopped. Plus, the process of mediation and the appeals process. Also covered within the regulations are information related to when a child or young person with an EHC plan moves from the area of the local authority which maintains the EHC plan (“the old authority”) into the area of another local authority (“the new authority”).