Council Sets Out Three-Year Plan to Boost SEND Support in Brighton and Hove
The council's SEND Sufficiency Plan aims to create more specialist education places across the city
Brighton News
Brighton and Hove City Council has set out a three-year plan to expand and improve local support for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities, aiming to create more specialist places closer to home.
The SEND Sufficiency Plan 2026 to 2029, discussed by Cabinet on 16 July, sets out the council's ambition for ensuring there are enough appropriate specialist education places for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities over the next three years, and proposes a programme of new and expanded provision to address gaps in capacity.
The draft plan would guide delivery through a phased programme of new specialist support bases, targeted support within mainstream schools, and a refocusing of the city's specialist alternative provision. It has been developed jointly with partners across early years, primary and secondary education, and the Parent Carer Council.
SEND in Brighton and Hove
The picture in the city's schools
26.1%
Of pupils identified as having SEND (January 2026)
19.7%
Of pupils receiving SEND support
6.4%
Of pupils with an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP)
A clearer roadmap for the next three years
Councillor Emma Daniel, Cabinet Member for Children, Families and Youth Services, said the plan was a vital piece of work setting out how the council intends to expand and improve local support for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities.
Councillor Emma Daniel, Cabinet Member for Children, Families and Youth Services (photo: Brighton and Hove City Council)
We're committed to giving our children and young people the best start in life. If agreed, the draft SEND Sufficiency Plan would help us achieve this by offering a clear roadmap to increase specialist provision in Brighton and Hove. This is an important step on our journey to delivering a fairer, more inclusive and sustainable education system that supports the needs of all the children growing up in our city
Councillor Emma Daniel, Cabinet Member for Children, Families and Youth Services
Part of a national shift
The plan reflects a wider change in national policy towards a more inclusive, locality-based model, with greater emphasis on early intervention, mainstream inclusion and a graduated response to need. That direction has been shaped by three national documents: the SEND and Alternative Provision Improvement Plan (2023), the Schools White Paper "Every Child Achieving and Thriving" (2025), and the SEND Reform consultation "Putting Children and Young People First" (2025).
The council has also submitted a three-year Local SEND Reform Plan to the Department for Education, setting out how it intends to strengthen support for children and young people with SEND across the city. Alongside that submission, the council has flagged the need for national support to fully deliver the reforms, particularly in tackling workforce shortages in specialist roles such as educational psychology and therapy services.
If Cabinet agrees the programme of new and expanded provision, individual proposals that require statutory processes would be subject to separate decisions and public consultation in due course. More detail is available on the council's news announcement and its SEND strategy pages.