Our reflection on the SEND Reform consultation

One of the young people we work with wrote a piece called If Only You Knew. It begins:

“If only you knew how it feels to be me. To be so misunderstood. To be not enough and too much all at once. Not believed, not trusted, not listened to.”

We are sharing these words with her permission.

They describe something we hear in different forms from many of the young people we support, and in fewer words than any policy document, what it feels like to be a neurodivergent young person in a system that was not designed to see you.

The SEND Reform consultation has now closed. It is the most significant proposed change to the SEND framework since the Children and Families Act 2014.

As we read through the consultation proposals, we kept returning to the words above.

Because however systems change, the question remains the same: will the children who are currently being missed be seen more clearly, or less?

 

The consultation describes a future system that is earlier, more inclusive, less adversarial and easier for families to navigate. This reflects our aims too. We have been saying for years that the system needs to step in earlier, before thresholds, before crisis.

But aspirations alone are not enough, it’s also about how the reforms are implemented.

As we worked through the proposals, we found ourselves asking whether some of the changes could actually make it harder for families to secure the support their children need, particularly where provision depends on local interpretation, resources or decision-making processes that may vary significantly from one area to another.

Detailed provision is being moved out of legally enforceable EHCPs and into weaker Individual Support Plans. Generic Specialist Provision Packages are being set up in place of individualised assessment. More decisions are being pushed into structures that are harder for families to navigate and harder to hold to account. Independent challenge is being narrowed, not strengthened.

Many of the young people we support do not fit neatly into existing pathways, some are waiting for assessment, some do not meet thresholds for specialist services, and others are attending school every day but struggling significantly beneath the surface.

They are often the children who fall between gaps in what is available, finding ways to try and “cope” long before anyone recognises the extent of their distress.

Many are often autistic, ADHD, or both, they are disproportionately girls and gender-diverse young people whose needs are more easily overlooked.

Children who are told they are anxious, disengaged, refusing, or not trying hard enough, when what they really need is understanding and support.

By the time we meet them, many are exhausted. They have become highly skilled at masking their distress, carrying the weight of feeling misunderstood for years, and feeling, as one young person put it, “not enough and too much all at once”.

These are the children and young people we thought about most while responding to the consultation.

Because despite growing awareness of neurodiversity, inclusion is still often measured through attendance and behaviour data alone, the very measures that can overlook children who are struggling hardest to be seen.

We often describe BrightPaths as the safety net under the bridge of services that exist. We hold children before they fall.We work alongside schools, not instead of them. We do not require a diagnosis. We do not wait for crisis.We step in early, before thresholds, before crisis.

Across the country, small charities, community organisations and parent-led services are providing this kind of support every day. It works, but it is not commissioned consistently and so it happens often with limited resources.

If the reforms are serious about early intervention, they need to recognise the role these services play and fund this work properly,and consider how they can be supported sustainably alongside statutory provision. Not just leaving it to whichever organisation happens to meet the child first.

The consultation has closed now, but the underlying principle doesn’t go away. The experiences of children, families, schools and practitioners still matter, probably more than anything else when decisions are being made.

If people like us don’t speak up, that doesn’t mean there’s no view, it just means the evidence ends up coming from somewhere else, shaped by voices that may not see the day-to-day reality in quite the same way.

Not everyone has the time, capacity, or even the energy to respond to formal consultations. Many are already managing long waiting lists, school refusal, complex assessments and daily distress, but their lived experience is incredibly valuable and is the evidence.

If you recognise your child, your students, or the young people you work with in what we have described, your perspective matters to help paint the picture that needs to be honest about what is happening on the ground. The more honestly we talk about what children are experiencing, the better chance we have of building systems that respond to their needs.

We will continue to speak up for a system where children don’t have to reach crisis point before they get help, where families aren’t left having to fight to be heard, and where neurodivergent children are understood for who they are, not measured against systems that were never really designed with them in mind.

More than anything, we hope the voices of children and young people stay at the centre of these conversations, and aren’t lost along the way as changes are made. Real change doesn’t have to be complicated, it’s about children feeling seen, understood and supported at the moments when it matters most.

The system doesn’t need to become more complex to do that – a lot of what’s needed is already there. The difference is in how consistently it’s followed – decisions based on evidence., support that is actually delivered, not just written down, and clear ways to challenge things when they’re not right, so families aren’t left feeling alone.

The children and families we support have helped shape our response to this consultation and we are grateful to every young person, parent, carer, teacher and professional who has shared their experiences with us over the years.

Whatever happens next, we hope the conversation continues to be guided by the realities children and families face every day, and by a shared commitment to creating a system that works better for everyone.

Natashia Leader
Founder and CEO, BrightPaths