Kent & Medway SEND briefing — 19 October 2026

Kent consults on SEND Strategic Improvement Plan

Status: draft local improvement plan and public consultation — not legislation or a change to individual rights.

Kent County Council, NHS Kent and Medway Integrated Care Board and their education, health and care partners have published a draft Local Area SEND Strategic Improvement Plan for 2026–2029. It responds to the six areas for improvement identified during Kent's July 2026 area SEND inspection.

The proposed work includes:

• stronger oversight of reduced timetables, persistent absence, alternative provision and children not receiving full-time education;
• better monitoring of annual reviews, outstanding decisions, EHCP amendments and professional advice;
• clearer explanations, timescales, next steps and escalation information for families;
• interim support, risk review and escalation while children wait for specialist pathways;
• more consistent Preparation for Adulthood planning, including from Year 9; and
• investigation and correction of unjustified geographical differences in access to support.

The draft contains actions, accountable partners and target dates extending into 2029. Some actions still depend on supporting operational work or responsibilities that need to become clearer. Families may therefore wish to test whether each commitment is specific, measurable and urgent enough.

Read the draft plan and respond directly to Kent County Council ↗

Two separate consultation deadlines

These are separate feedback opportunities.

Questions families may wish to raise

• Are the proposed actions sufficiently specific and urgent?
• Are responsibility, completion dates and recovery arrangements clear?
• What will happen for children already being harmed by delay or disrupted education?
• How will Kent measure whether families' experiences have genuinely improved?
• Will progress data, missed milestones and geographical differences be published?
• What escalation route will apply when promised improvements are not delivered?
• How will children waiting for neurodevelopmental assessment receive practical support and risk monitoring now?
• How will children on SEN Support, without an EHCP, benefit from Preparation for Adulthood work?

Families can strengthen a response with anonymised examples of delayed annual reviews, outdated EHCPs, prolonged reduced timetables, repeated requests for the same evidence, unsupported diagnostic waits or postcode-dependent provision. Do not include unnecessary identifying or sensitive information in a public consultation response.

Existing legal duties continue

The draft plan does not amend EHC needs-assessment tests or timescales, annual-review and amendment requirements, duties to arrange suitable education, duties to secure EHCP provision, schools' best-endeavours and reasonable-adjustment duties, or SEND Tribunal and complaint rights.

Kent's proposed September 2027 completion date for stronger oversight of disrupted education does not permit an existing case to remain unresolved until then. The same principle applies to later plan dates concerning EHCPs, waiting-list support and Preparation for Adulthood.

Complaints and representations should continue to request immediate, child-specific action, with a named person responsible and a clear completion date. This is a Kent plan. Although NHS Kent and Medway ICB is a partner, it is not Medway Council's SEND improvement plan.

Relevant law and guidance: Children and Families Act 2014, section 36 ↗ · section 42 ↗ · section 66 ↗ · Education Act 1996, section 19 ↗ · Equality Act 2010, section 20 ↗.

DfE research links belonging, SEND support and attendance

Status: Department for Education research, published 16 October 2026 — not statutory guidance or an enforceable duty.

DfE-commissioned qualitative research across 16 mainstream primary and secondary schools identifies a reciprocal relationship between belonging, attendance and attainment. Effective practice included genuine pupil voice, physical and psychological safety, positive relationships with staff and families, calm spaces and emotional-regulation support, and individualised action to remove barriers — particularly for pupils with SEND.

Read the DfE school-belonging research ↗

For persistent absence, school distress, bullying, reintegration or reduced-timetable cases, families can ask schools to:

• record the child's views in an accessible form;
• identify sensory, relational, learning and safety barriers;
• agree a named trusted adult, regulation arrangements and individual adjustments;
• set review dates and monitor wellbeing and engagement, not attendance alone; and
• explain how any attendance intervention will address the underlying barriers.

The research is persuasive evidence of good practice, but it does not create a separate legal remedy. Casework should remain grounded in SEN Support, EHCP provision, safeguarding responsibilities, reasonable adjustments and — where applicable — the local authority's section 19 duty.

Tribunal procedure watch

The SEND Tribunal's “One-Touch” case-management model remains described by the judiciary as a proposed reform. This check found no published commencement date or operative procedural direction. Existing appeal preparation arrangements therefore continue unless the Tribunal issues case-specific directions.

Courts and Tribunals Judiciary: HESC news and updates ↗

Important: Information checked for this briefing on 19 October 2026. A consultation, research report or proposed procedural reform is not a substitute for current law, statutory guidance or a decision about an individual child. For urgent deadlines, seek advice promptly.