February 23, 2026
The SEND White Paper Is Here: What Schools Need to Know and How to Prepare
Blog
The Schools White Paper has confirmed it. Every nursery, school and college in England will have a statutory duty to create and maintain a digital Individual Support Plan for every child with identified SEND.
This is not optional. It is not guidance. It is a legal requirement that replaces the current informal approach to SEN support recording and extends formal, documented provision to an estimated 1.3 million children who currently have no statutory plan.
For SENCOs and school leaders, ISPs represent the single biggest operational change in the White Paper. This blog explains what we know so far, what schools will need to do, and how to start preparing now.
The SEND consultation is open until 18 May 2026, and many of the finer details will be shaped through that process. But the direction is clear.
An ISP is a structured, digital record that captures a child's additional needs, the support being provided, and the outcomes being worked towards. Based on the White Paper and consultation documents, ISPs will cover:
ISPs must be developed with parents and reviewed at least annually. Children will not need a diagnosis to have one. The trigger is identified need, not a clinical label.
The DfE has stated that ISPs will be "interactive, accessible and available in a digital format." This is not a document that lives in a filing cabinet or a Word file on the SENCO's laptop. It is a living, accessible record that staff across the school can see and use.
At the targeted support level, an ISP records the structured interventions being provided by the school, such as small-group work, pre-teaching, or specific programmes funded through the Inclusive Mainstream Fund.
At targeted plus, the ISP also reflects input from external specialists accessed through the Experts at Hand service, such as speech and language therapists or educational psychologists.
For children with the most complex needs, the ISP sits alongside a new EHCP underpinned by a Specialist Provision Package. The EHCP carries the legal entitlements. The ISP describes day-to-day provision in school.
Every child with SEND has an ISP. The depth and complexity of what it contains depends on the tier of support they receive.
The scale of this should not be underestimated. A typical primary school might have 40 to 80 pupils on the SEN register. Every one of them will need a structured, digital ISP that is created with parental input, reviewed at least annually, accessible to all relevant staff, and evidenced with interventions and outcomes.
This is fundamentally different from maintaining a provision map in a spreadsheet or filing paper profiles in the SENCO's office.
Volume. Creating ISPs for every SEND child is significant. Schools need a way to create plans efficiently without the SENCO writing each one from scratch.
Consistency. If every teacher and LSA records information differently, ISPs will not serve their purpose. Schools need a consistent framework.
Accessibility. Class teachers need to see what adjustments are in place before they walk into the classroom, not after they have asked the SENCO.
Evidence. An ISP without evidence of what is actually being delivered is an empty document. Interventions, progress, adjustments all need to be tracked.
Parental involvement. ISPs are developed with parents. Schools need a clear process for this from day one.
This is exactly the challenge Senflow was built for.
The new ISP duty requires every school to have a single digital space where SEND information is structured, consistent and accessible. Senflow provides that infrastructure. Support plans, strategies, intervention records, professional reports and review timelines all live in one place, visible to the staff who need them and building the evidence base that ISPs require.
When the ISP framework is finalised, schools using Senflow will already have the foundation in place. The transition from current practice to the new statutory duty will be a refinement, not a rebuild.
Start your free trial at senflow.co.uk
ISPs carry statutory weight. Ofsted will assess how schools implement them, and where standards are not met, it could affect inspection outcomes.
Parents can raise complaints through the school complaints process if ISPs are not maintained or provision is not being delivered. This is different from the EHCP tribunal route, as parents will not be able to take ISP complaints to the SEND Tribunal. But the combination of Ofsted scrutiny and the formal complaints process means schools cannot afford to treat ISPs as a tick-box exercise.
ISPs are expected to become statutory from the 2026-27 academic year, with the full new system taking effect from 2028-29. No changes to current SEND support before at least September 2030.
Schools have a window to prepare, but not a long one.
Audit your current SEN support recording. Is it consistent, accessible and digital? If not, that is your starting point.
Move SEND records into a single digital system. The ISP requirement makes this non-negotiable.
Standardise how you record needs and provision. Create a consistent format now. When detailed ISP guidance is published, you will adapt rather than start from scratch.
Build intervention tracking into daily practice. ISPs without evidence are empty documents.
Train staff on their role. Every teacher and LSA needs to understand what an ISP contains, how to access it, and what their part is in delivering and recording provision.
Engage parents early. Schools with strong parental engagement around SEND will find this transition much smoother.
Respond to the consultation. The SEND consultation closes 18 May 2026. Schools have a direct opportunity to shape how ISPs work in practice.
