Choosing a school for a child with SEND in England: EHCPs, special schools and the 2026 reforms

Choosing a school for a child with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) starts with one question: does your child have, or need, an education, health and care (EHC) plan? Without a plan, you apply through the normal admissions round like every other family, and the school must use its best endeavours to give your child the support they need, known as SEN support. With a plan, the council names the school in the plan after asking for your preference, and a state school named in the plan must admit your child. Either way, your choice is between a mainstream school, a mainstream school with a specialist base, and a special school, and the right answer depends on your child, not on the label.

This guide is for parents in England. It covers the types of school, how places work with and without an EHC plan, the key dates for a September 2027 start, what to look for on a visit, transport, what to do if you disagree, and what the 2026 SEND reforms do and do not change yet. The law it describes is the Children and Families Act 2014 and the SEND Code of Practice, which still apply in full.

The types of school

The Children and Families Act 2014 sets a general presumption in favour of mainstream education. That does not mean mainstream is always the answer. It means the council cannot refuse mainstream because it thinks it is unsuitable, and must name mainstream if you want it, unless that would be incompatible with the efficient education of other children and no reasonable steps could prevent that.

SEN units, resourced provision and inclusion bases

A DfE report sets out the difference. In an SEN unit, pupils are taught in separate classes for at least half their time. In resourced provision, places are reserved for pupils with a specific type of need, who are taught in mainstream classes for at least half their time and have a base and specialist facilities. Ofsted uses inclusion base as a collective term for resourced provision, SEN units and pupil support units, so you may see that term in newer inspection reports and on school websites. Bases can be set up by a school, a trust or the council, so ask each school how its base works, how pupils get a place and how much time they spend in mainstream lessons.

How school places work

Without an EHC plan: the normal admissions round

If your child gets SEN support but has no EHC plan, you apply through your home council in the normal way: by 31 October for secondary school and 15 January for primary school. Our guide to school admissions in England explains the process.

The School Admissions Code and the SEND Code of Practice protect your child in this round. Under the SEND Code, the admission authority for a state school must decide your application on the school's published admissions criteria. It must not refuse your child because it does not feel able to cater for their needs, and it must not refuse them because they do not have an EHC plan. The Admissions Code adds that admission arrangements must not unfairly disadvantage a child with a disability or special educational needs.

A child without an EHC plan can only be placed in a special school in exceptional circumstances, for example while they are being assessed for a plan, or at a special academy whose arrangements allow it. If you think your child needs a special school or a specialist base, the usual first step is an EHC needs assessment.

With an EHC plan: the council names the school

If your child has an EHC plan, the school is decided through the plan, not the normal allocation. Check with your council's SEND team how this fits with the normal application form in your area. Under the SEND Code of Practice (paragraphs 9.78 to 9.84) and section 39 of the Act:

1. You ask for a school. When the council sends you a draft plan, or proposes to amend an existing plan, you have at least 15 days to comment and name the school you want.
2. The council must agree, with limited exceptions. You have the right to ask for a maintained school, academy or free school (mainstream or special), a maintained nursery school, a non-maintained special school, a further education or sixth form college, or an independent special school or college on the section 41 approved list. The council must name it unless it would be unsuitable for your child's age, ability, aptitude or SEN, or your child's attendance would be incompatible with the efficient education of others or the efficient use of resources.
3. The council consults the school. It sends the school the draft plan and must consider its response carefully. Schools should reply within 15 days.
4. The school must admit your child. A school in that list that is named in the plan must admit them. The Admissions Code repeats this for state schools.

You can also ask for an independent school that is not on the approved list. The council must consider the request and your wishes, but it does not have the same duty to name it, and such a school does not have to admit your child even if named. If you do not ask for a particular school, or your request is refused, the plan must provide for a mainstream place unless that is against your wishes or incompatible with the efficient education of others.

If your child may need an EHC plan

You can ask your council for an EHC needs assessment yourself; you do not need the school's agreement. A school can also make the request, ideally with your agreement. The council must tell you within 6 weeks whether it will assess, and the whole process, from request to final plan, must take no more than 20 weeks. The council looks at whether your child has not made expected progress despite the school taking relevant and purposeful action to meet their needs, so keep copies of reports, assessments and support plans.

If a school move is coming up, ask early, so you have time to visit schools before you respond to a draft plan.

Key dates for a September 2027 start

The 15 February deadline in paragraph 9.179 of the Code covers moves from early years to school, infant to junior, primary to middle, primary to secondary and middle to secondary. For post-16 choices, see our guide to choosing a sixth form or college.

How to judge whether a school can meet your child's needs

Before you visit

• Read the SEN information report. Every maintained school and academy must publish one on its website, and should update it each year. It must say what kinds of SEN the school provides for, how it identifies and assesses needs, how it involves parents, and, for mainstream schools, the name and contact details of the SENCO.
• Check your council's Local Offer. Every council must publish one. It describes the special educational provision the council expects to be available, how to request an EHC needs assessment, travel arrangements, and local sources of advice and support. Search your council's website for "Local Offer".
• Read the latest inspection report. For state-funded schools inspected since 10 November 2025, Ofsted's report card grades inclusion as a separate evaluation area. The inspection toolkit tells inspectors to look at how quickly and accurately the school identifies pupils' needs, whether it consults external specialists and acts on their advice, how closely it works with parents, and whether any inclusion base meets pupils' needs and helps them take part in wider school life. Older reports use the previous grades, and independent schools are inspected under different arrangements, so check the date and type of report. Our guide to Ofsted report cards explains how to read them.

Questions to ask on a visit

Ask to meet the SENCO or the person who coordinates SEND support, ideally without your child the first time, and ask the same questions everywhere.

Understanding your child

• How would you find out what my child needs in their first weeks?
• Have you taught children with needs like my child's recently? What worked?
• What would a normal day look like for my child here?

Support in practice

• Who would support my child, and how are support staff trained and deployed?
• Which specialists, such as speech and language therapists or educational psychologists, work with the school, and how often?
• If there is an inclusion base, how do pupils get a place, and how much time do they spend in mainstream lessons?
• Are there quiet spaces, and what happens if my child becomes overwhelmed?

Working with families

• How often will you review my child's progress with me, and who is my contact?
• How do you handle behaviour linked to SEND?
• How do you make sure my child can join trips, clubs and events?

Moving in

• How do you plan transitions, such as extra visits before the first day?
• For a special school: which needs is the school organised around, and what are the class sizes and staff ratios?

Notice how staff talk about the children and whether your questions get specific answers. If you can, visit at least one mainstream and one specialist option so you are comparing real choices.

Getting to school: transport

Under the DfE's travel to school guidance, updated in May 2026, a child of compulsory school age is eligible for free travel to their nearest suitable school if it is more than 2 miles away (under 8) or 3 miles away (8 and over), or if they cannot reasonably be expected to walk there because of their SEN, disability or mobility problem, even with a parent and even within walking distance.

• Your child does not need an EHC plan or a special school place to qualify on these grounds, and not every child with a plan or at a special school will qualify. The council assesses each child individually and may ask you, the school and professionals for information.
• If your child has an EHC plan, the school named in the plan is normally treated as their nearest suitable school for transport.
• If you prefer a school further away than a nearer one that could meet your child's needs, the council can take the extra travel cost into account. It may name your preferred school on condition that you arrange or pay for the travel.
• Each council publishes its own travel policy, and the guidance recommends a two-stage review and appeal process if you are refused. For students aged 16 to 19, check your council's post-16 transport support.

If you disagree with a decision

Without an EHC plan. If a state school refuses your child a place in the normal round, you can appeal to an independent admission appeal panel. Our guide on how to appeal a school place explains how.

With an EHC plan. You can appeal to the First-tier Tribunal (Special Educational Needs and Disability) about a decision not to assess, a decision not to issue a plan, the needs and provision in the plan, and the school or type of school named, or no school being named. You normally have two months from the council's decision to register an appeal, and in most cases you must speak to a mediation adviser first. That step is not needed if your appeal is only about the school named, the type of school or no school being named. GOV.UK explains how to appeal.

The 2026 SEND reforms: what has and has not changed

The reforms are real and significant, but as of 24 September 2026 they are proposals. The law described above still applies.

What has happened so far

• 23 February 2026: the government published the schools white paper, Every child achieving and thriving, and a consultation, SEND reform: putting children and young people first.
• 13 May 2026: the King's Speech confirmed the government's intention to legislate through an Education for All Bill. The DfE's Education Hub says this "is not the introduction of legislation" and that the Bill is subject to the outcome of the consultation.
• 18 May 2026: the consultation closed. GOV.UK says the DfE is analysing the feedback.
• 20 July 2026: Andy Burnham became Prime Minister. GOV.UK labels the white paper and consultation as "published under the 2024 to 2026 Starmer Labour government". We found no DfE announcement changing the proposals.
• 24 September 2026: no consultation outcome had been published, and the Bill had not been introduced to Parliament.

What is proposed

According to the DfE, the new system would have a universal offer of support in every school, then three further levels: targeted, targeted plus and specialist. The main proposals for families are:

• Individual Support Plans. Every school, nursery and college would have a legal duty to create a digital Individual Support Plan for every child with SEND, setting out their day-to-day support, which parents could see.
• EHC plans stay for children who need more support than is routinely available in mainstream schools. They would become digital, and every child with one would also have an Individual Support Plan.
• Inclusion bases. The government expects that, in time, every secondary school will have an inclusion base, alongside the same number of places in primary schools.
• Experts at Hand. A new service giving mainstream settings access to specialists such as speech and language therapists, occupational therapists and educational psychologists.

What the DfE says about existing EHC plans

The DfE's Education Hub guide for parents says: "No changes to the support given by EHCPs will begin before September 2030." It also says no child will lose support they need, and that an assessment will be made "in three years' time, after significant investment" of whether children's needs can be better met with an Individual Support Plan. That assessment does not apply to children in special schools. In mainstream schools, it applies to children who were seven or younger when the guide was published in May 2026; everyone else will keep their existing EHC plan until at least 16.

What this means for your choice now

If your child needs a school place for September 2027, nothing in the reforms changes how you get it. You can still request an EHC needs assessment, ask for a school to be named, rely on a named school's duty to admit, and appeal to the Tribunal. If the details change once the consultation response and the Bill are published, we will update this guide.

Where to get free, independent help

• Your local SENDIASS. Every council must arrange information, advice and support for children with SEND and their parents, and the SEND Code of Practice says it should be impartial and confidential. Local services are often called SENDIASS. Find yours through the Council for Disabled Children.
• IPSEA. A national charity specialising in SEND law in England, with free legal guides, template letters and advice services. See IPSEA.
• Your council's Local Offer. The place to find local provision, how to ask for an assessment, transport rules and parent support groups.

How FindMySchool helps

• Special schools near me uses your device's location, with your permission, to list up to 60 special schools within 25 miles, nearest first. You can filter by type of need, such as autism, speech, language and communication needs, or social, emotional and mental health needs.
• Special schools by area has a page for each area with at least five special schools, for example special schools in Manchester. Pages include state, academy, free, non-maintained and independent special schools recorded on GIAS, the government's register of schools, with each school's age range, whether it takes day or boarding pupils, its inspection outcome, and the types of need it caters for where GIAS lists them.
• Mainstream schools. In our school search, the "SEN Support" filter shows schools that GIAS records as having special classes. It is a yes or no flag and does not tell you which needs they cater for or how many places there are, so confirm the details with the school and your council.
• School Match asks whether your child has special educational needs. If they do, you choose between a mainstream school with SEN support and a specialist school. For a specialist school you choose your child's needs and it suggests special schools that list at least one of them. For mainstream, you can make an SEN unit a must-have. You answer the questions without signing up, then create a free account to see your results, and your top match on your first search is free.

For the wider picture of school choice, including catchment areas, visits and results, read how to choose the right school in England.

Choosing a school for a child with SEND can feel like a lot at once. Take it one step at a time: find out whether your child has, or needs, an EHC plan; visit a small number of schools that could genuinely meet their needs; note the deadlines; and get free, independent advice from your SENDIASS or IPSEA whenever you are unsure.

Frequently asked questions

How do I find SEN schools near me?

Start with your council's Local Offer, which must set out the special educational provision it expects to be available for children in your area. You can also search special schools near you on FindMySchool and filter them by type of need, then read each school's SEN information report and latest inspection report. For mainstream schools, ask the council which ones have an SEN unit or resourced provision, and speak to the SENCO at any school you are considering.

Do you need an EHCP to go to a special school?

How do I get a particular school named in an EHCP?

What is the difference between an SEN unit and resourced provision?

Can a school refuse my child because of their special educational needs?

Will my child lose their EHCP under the 2026 SEND reforms?

Does my child get free school transport if they have SEND?