The government is looking to collect independent evidence on whether its initial multi-billion pound SEND cash injections are creating the “necessary conditions” for a fully reformed system. Tender documents reveal how the Department for Education is considering commissioning a £2.5 million evaluation of money “designed to strengthen” mainstream inclusions and improve support. This includes the £1.8 billion experts at hand scheme, the £1.6 billion inclusive mainstream fund and an “overarching SEND reform investments evaluation”. It will assess how this cash is “building workforce capacity, inclusive practice, local system capacity and partnerships needed to support future phases of SEND reform”. It will also “synthesise evidence” across a range of SEND reform programmes “to understand whether the initial investment period is creating the conditions necessary for successful implementation of a reformed SEND system” from 2029-30. The evaluation could run from early next year to late 2029. Funding experts have welcomed the move. Mark O’Brien, national representative for school funding for the Centre for Education Operational Excellence, it was “very encouraging” that the DfE was building independent evaluation into the reforms “from the outset”. “The evaluation needs to go beyond measuring how much money has been spent, how many staff have been trained or how many specialist interventions have taken place. Outcomes must be considered “Effective inclusion may initially require greater investment in mainstream provision and costs can easily be displaced rather than reduced. “The evaluation therefore needs to follow both the child and the money across the system, looking at outcomes such as attendance, exclusions, pupil belonging, independence, parental confidence and pupil experience alongside workforce and financial data.” He added that “done properly, this could provide something the SEND system badly needs: robust evidence about the combination of funding, workforce, specialist expertise and provision that actually makes inclusion work”. It previously took the government three years to commission research into how its SEND cost-cutting programme – safety valve – impacted children and their families. That work found the scheme put families and councils in “direct conflict”, with fewer education, health and care plans issued in those areas. Luke Sibieta, from the Institute for Fiscal Studies, said the current evidence base on SEND spending was “not great, so it is encouraging to see DfE seeking to extend it”. The DfE’s market engagement tender said it anticipated suppliers “will require expertise in mixed-methods research, large-scale programme evaluation, and research involving children and young people with SEND, families, education settings and local authorities”.