‘Best practice’ guidance promised for SEN units

The government will publish “best practice” guidance to help mainstream schools set up and run SEN and pupil support units as part of their inclusion push.

The Department for Education has chosen the National Children’s Bureau (NCB) as the lead partner for the work, with interim guidance for schools due to be published in December. The final guidance is scheduled for February.

It will form part of Labour’s SEND strategy to educate more pupils with additional needs in the mainstream, rather than costly special school placements.

A government contract tender said the NCB would “work in collaboration with the DfE to engage lead practitioners and stakeholders, coordinating working groups and produce interim and final guidance”.

‘High quality’ guidance

It said the review would develop “high-quality” guidance for local authorities and schools to establish SEN units and resourced provision. The NCB will receive £119,000.

SEN units, resourced provision and pupil support units all involve provision for pupils with additional needs in mainstream schools. SEN units offer specialist lessons, while resourced provision acts as a support base for SEN pupils, who are mainly integrated into mainstream classes.

Meanwhile, pupil support units are planned interventions occurring in small groups for behavioural reasons or, in some cases, as a final preventative measure to support children at risk of exclusion.

Units on the rise

According to the DfE, there were 449 schools with SEN units and 1,217 with resourced provision in January 2025. These numbers have been on the rise, with 392 schools having units in 2024, and 1,168 having resourced provision in 2023.

DfE survey data from January shows about 50 per cent of secondary schools have, or are planning on opening, a pupil support unit.

Labour pledged in its manifesto it would take a “community-wide approach” to SEND, improving “inclusivity and expertise in mainstream schools, as well as ensuring that special schools cater to those with the most complex needs”.

The government is also testing a ‘local inclusion support offer’ in councils across its “reformulated” SEND Change Programme, which seeks to “better identify needs early on in mainstream settings”.