Colleges included in the £1.8bn Experts at Hand offer, but year 1 steers support to the early years

Mainstream 16 to 19 providers are named among eligible settings, but an early years steer and a warning over years 2 and 3 mean the sector will need to push to be seen.

The Department for Education and NHS England have today published the year 1 delivery guidance for Experts at Hand, the new offer that will bring specialist health and education professionals into mainstream settings from September 2026. Backed by around £1.8 billion over three years, it is a central pillar of the government’s wider SEND reform programme.

For the FE sector, the headline is that post 16 is firmly in scope. The guidance defines eligible mainstream settings as including school sixth forms, further education colleges and other organisations commissioned by local authorities or funded by DfE to deliver 16 to 19 provision, alongside early years and mainstream schools. Fee paying independent schools are not eligible.

What the offer actually is

Experts at Hand puts speech and language therapists, occupational therapists, educational psychologists and specialist teachers directly into mainstream settings to work alongside existing staff. The grant funds those four disciplines plus their support workers, assistants and trainees. Crucially, children and young people will not need a diagnosis to access support, it is based on need, and the offer is additional to statutory provision rather than a replacement for it. One to one support specified in an education, health and care plan sits outside its scope.

In year 1, the focus is deliberately on group, class and whole setting approaches rather than individual casework. The areas DfE has flagged as priorities are language development, attention and understanding, emotional regulation, sensory processing and fine motor skills such as handwriting readiness. The aim is earlier identification and embedded, evidence based practice that builds staff confidence and reduces reliance on external referrals over time.

The money and the rules

The wider £1.8 billion is phased, with £429 million available for 2026 to 2027 through the Experts at Hand and local authority SEND transformation fund. Local areas must spend a minimum of 90% of their funding on direct delivery to settings, staff and children. Where an area folds in an Alternative Provision Specialist Taskforce model, that element is capped at no more than 10% of direct delivery.

A separate £40 million is going into workforce growth. Of that, £26 million will train at least 200 educational psychologists a year across 2026 and 2027, and £15 million will establish a new speech and language therapy advanced practitioner in every integrated care board area, expected at a minimum of NHS band 8a.

Delivery is jointly commissioned by local authorities and integrated care boards as equal partners, governed through a local area partnership board with a named senior responsible owner. Areas must publish their offer somewhere accessible such as the Local Offer website, and year 1 is framed as a baselining and diagnostic phase ahead of expansion in years 2 and 3.

The FE watch point

The guidance repeatedly steers areas toward the earliest years, asking them to consider how the offer targets children under 5 and how it reaches those not yet in formal early education. That is a sound preventative logic, but it leaves an open question over how visible post 16 will be when local plans are drawn up in a crowded first year.

DfE has put down a marker on this. The guidance states that, subject to a review of year 1, the department will consider taking a more prescribed approach in years 2 and 3 where local plans lack sufficient detail on engaging system partners across the full 0 to 25 range, naming early years and post 16 specifically. In other words, colleges and sixth forms are formally included, but the onus is partly on the sector to make sure local partnerships build them in rather than concentrating support among schools and the most proactive settings.

Where it sits in the bigger picture

Experts at Hand follows the schools white paper Every child achieving and thriving and the SEND consultation Putting Children and Young People First, both published on 23 February 2026. The reform is long term, with new legislation expected to come into effect from September 2029. Until then, existing duties under the SEND code of practice and the EHCP process remain unchanged, with Experts at Hand intended to strengthen what settings already do rather than substitute for it.

Local areas are expected to begin delivering elements of their offer from September 2026, building and refining it across the three years.

The full guidance, Developing and delivering the Experts at Hand offer in year 1, along with companion guides for settings and for parents, is available on GOV.UK.