Do you know that the Schools White Paper is going through consultation document at present and that you can have your say to influence how it develops into legislation? The national consultation period is open until the 18 May 2026 and now is your chance to make your views heard. 

 

This is the White Paper document (you can find a link to an easy read version on this page too)

 

This is the Policy paper for the White Paper document

 

This is the SEND Reform: Putting Children and young people First  Government Consultation document 

 

 

 

A UK government White Paper is an official policy document that sets out proposals for future legislation or government action. The current White Paper sets out plans for reforms to the schools and SEND systems in England to ensure that every child can achieve and thrive. As part of these planned changes, there is a specific focus on SEND reform: putting children and young people first.  The government is running a consultation process to get views from the people who will be affected those reforms. As the PCF, we are encouraging our members to make your voices heard.  You can do this directly through the government’s official consultation process as well as feeding in your thoughts to the PCF.  We’ll use your feedback to can collate views from across the county and use them to feedback to the people charged with carrying out the reform in Staffordshire as well as into the wider consultation.  

 

Further explanation can be found via the following organisations:

https://contact.org.uk/help-for-families/information-advice-services/education-learning/the-schools-white-paper-education-reforms/ 

 

 

 

Staffordshire, along with every Local Authority in England, is required to produce a Reform Plan and Maturity Matrix as part of requirements of the Schools White Paper to show how it is preparing to implement the legislation when it comes into force.  As SPFC, we can help you understand what the reforms mean for us here in Staffordshire.  We are also here to try to join the dots of how your Local Authority, Staffordshire County Council is dealing with and planning for the coming SEND reforms, as well as the processes they are going through to achieve this.  We can help you make more sense of the new SEND reform plans and what the Schools White Paper means in practice. 

 

Here is what we are already doing as the PCF and what are going to do in the coming weeks and months:

 

1. Put out on our social media platforms information, videos, webinars and written information from reliable and respected sources about the SEND Reform and Schools White Paper document.  This can help you better understand what it means for you and your family. It can also help you decide if you want to have your say on the Schools White Paper document and help shape how the changes are implemented. See  Further explanation can be found via the following organisations links above.

 

2. Give you dates of SEND engagement events run by the council for Disabled Children and the Department of Education.  These are examples of online and face to face events as part of the SEND Reform that you can register for and attend to help you understand more.

 

If you can’t make that meeting, you can feed your views in via our form just for the comments on the White Paper 

Government consultation on SEND reform in England – SPCF feedback 

Or complete our full annual survey which also has specific questions on then White Paper this year:  Staffordshire Parent Carer Forum – SEND Parent Questionnaire 2026 

Alternatively, you can put your views forward directly through the official government website here: 

 

4. As well as feeding your views directly into the consultation we will also keep feeding your views back to the Staffordshire Local Authority in our regular meetings with them to make sure they hear about your lived experience of families of children living with SEND in Staffordshire. 

 

5. After the consultation period, and once the Local Authority has developed its planning in line with what the government is asking it to do, we will set up in-person meetings for you to hear directly from the people responsible for delivering SEND services in Staffordshire. These will happen in the summer and will take the form of face-to-face meetings around the county: north Staffs (6 July),  centre (10 July) and south Staffs  (7 July).  We will also hold a virtual meeting on Teams Meeting on the 7 July. Times and venues to be confirmed shortly.