Education lawyers say proposed SEND appeal changes and wider school reforms could limit parents’ rights and increase pressure on schools across England.
Labour have published a new schools white paper which includes major changes to the system that supports children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) in England.
If agreed, the plans would change how parents challenge school placement decisions, introduce new guidance on complaints and set out proposals for more schools to join academy trusts.
Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson said the changes were necessary to fix a ‘broken’ system and Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer explained the current system ‘does not work’ and insisted reforms will provide a ‘better education for every child.’
Although, education lawyers claim some of the measures could limit parents’ rights and shift more disputes onto schools.
One of the biggest changes would affect SEND tribunal. Currently, parents can appeal if they disagree with the school their child has been assigned and the Tribunal can change the school. Under the new plans, it would merely check if the council’s decision was reasonable.
Philip Wood, Principal Associate at UK and Ireland law firm Browne Jacobson, said: ‘Proposed reforms to the SEND appeal process represent a fundamental change that will have a profound impact on parents and schools.
‘While existing tests weigh the decision in favour of the parents, who can argue against the specific school their child is allocated by a local authority, the SEND Tribunal will simply decide whether a local authority’s decision is reasonable under the suggested changes.’
‘In those circumstances, it will still be down to the council to reconsider its decision, with the Tribunal no longer deciding the placement,’ Wood continued. ‘But given that more than 60% of SEND appeals at least partly relate to placement, parents may view this as a significant downgrade of their legal rights.
‘As a result, they may seek to make further complaints and claims to schools, in relation to their SEND provision, under the Equality Act 2010 instead.’
The schools white paper also outlines plans to improve how complaints are dealt with and to tighten expectations around home-school partnerships.
Victoria Hatton, a partner at Browne Jacobson, said: ‘The schools white paper represents a meaningful acknowledgement and the school-parent social contract has fractured, and that repairing it requires coordinated action rather than leaving schools and families to navigate the breakdown alone.
‘However, the white paper stops short of providing the legislative ‘teeth’ the situation demands.’
On the subject of moving all schools into academy trusts, Lydia Michaelson-Yeates, also a partner at the firm, said there was ‘much work ahead’ if the government is to succeed with this target.
‘The latest Department of Education data from November 2025 shows that local authority maintained schools still comprise 45% of all schools in England – this leaves about 10,000 schools that remain to be converted into academies,’ she said.
‘Some of these may convert into the new concept of local authority-run trusts, which marks a significant change in policy. One of the challenges these will have is in replicating the commercial mindsets that are embedded within the existing trust system.
‘There is no mention in the white paper about the preferred size of trusts, although it does spell the end for single academy trusts. There are presently about 950 of these that will be expected to partner with other trusts.’
Image: Taylor Flowe/UnSplash
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