SEN reform agenda: The first year
Harry McGoldrick analyses the Special Educational Needs (SEN) Reform Agenda: Delivery Plan 2025-2030, one year into implementation.
The delivery plan, published by the Department of Education in February 2025, highlights that Education Authority (EA) SEN expenditure increased to £671 million in the academic year 24/25, a 164 per cent increase from 2017/18 expenditure of £254 million.
Following a successful bid to the Interim Northern Ireland Civil Service Transformation Board for funding, the Department introduced phased implementation of the plan. By June 2026, the Department aims to have published the enhanced support model, including new statutory assessment guidance, with implementation of the support model starting in September 2026.
The Enhanced Support Model entered public consultation on 24 March 2026 and ran until 22 May 2026. The aims of the model are to improve educational benefits for SEN pupils, including training non-teaching staff in specialist support, access to advice from educational specialists for schools, and limiting one-to-one support to be only when necessary.
The Policy Framework for Statutory Assessment in Northern Ireland was published in April 2026 under TrasformED. The framework proposes new aims for statutory assessments that will “define a coherent pathway” for pupils in years one to 10 and ensures all exams are equal and inclusive.
Whilst the Department continues to implement improvements for SEN, Education Minister Paul Givan MLA told the Northern Ireland Assembly in April 2026 the EA confirmed a shortfall of approximately 384 places for children with SEN for September 2026.
In Northern Ireland, 70,232 pupils were registered as having a SEN in the academic year 2024/25, representing 19.8 per cent of pupils in the education system, according to the Department of Education.
Actions of the plan have proved unpopular as well, with the Children’s Law Centre, alongside 14 other organisations, including Action for Children and UNISON, writing an open letter to the Education Minister to stop “potentially damaging” revisions to SEND Framework, calling the implementation of Local IMPACT Teams in particular a “major change within an unstable system”.
Responding to questions regarding the SEN reforms in the Assembly in April 2026, Minister Givan said: “I remain fully committed to progressing the new Special Educational Framework”.
SDLP education spokesperson Cara Hunter MLA says: “This is the latest example of Minister Givan ignoring pupils, parents, and the education sector as he pushes ahead with harmful reforms.”
