Helen Hayes Replies to Bridget Phillipson’s letter delaying SEND White Paper

The Education Select Committee has written to the Secretary of State for Education requesting further information about how the Government’s promised “co-creation” process for SEND reforms will operate in practice.

The letter, from Committee Chair Helen Hayes MP, responds to Bridget Phillipson’s announcement that publication of the Schools White Paper, which will contain the Government’s SEND reforms, has been delayed until early January 2026.

While welcoming the additional time for stakeholder engagement, the Committee has made clear that swift implementation will be essential once reforms are announced, given that too many children, parents and carers are already waiting for sustainable change.

Dear Bridget,

Thank you for your letter informing me of the delay to the publication of the Schools White Paper. My Committee shares the Department’s commitment to ensuring that reform of the SEND system is delivered effectively and on a sustainable basis. We recognise the importance of allowing sufficient time for thorough engagement with a wide range of stakeholders, drawing on existing evidence and recommendations, including those set out in our report Solving the SEND Crisis, even if this necessitates a revised publication timetable of early January 2026.

We would emphasise that, once the SEND reforms are announced, it will be essential for your Department to act swiftly to implement them and to provide clear and transparent timelines to ensure that progress is made without further delay. Too many children, parents and carers are waiting for sustainable change and a system that can meet their needs.

Your letter refers to a process of co-creation involving parents, educators, experts, and representative organisations. We would welcome further detail on how this process will operate in practice. In response to this letter, I would be grateful for an outline of the specific steps you plan to take to design and facilitate this co-creation process, including how stakeholders will be selected and engaged, how co-creators will be resourced to be equal participants in the process, how feedback will be incorporated, and how the Department will ensure that decision-making remains transparent, inclusive, and accountable.

We also wish to emphasise that this work must be underpinned by a strong and comprehensive equality framework, ensuring that the voices and experiences of people with a wide range of lived experiences, including children and young people themselves, are meaningfully represented.

I look forward to hearing from you in due course.

Helen Hayes MP Chair, Education Committee