Listen to this story Members can listen to an AI-generated audio version of this article. 1.0x Audio narration uses an AI-generated voice. 0:00 0:00 Become a member to listen to this article Subscribe Councils must have their local SEND reform plans approved by government to secure a 90 per cent SEND deficit write-off from government. The Department for Education will bail out most of councils’ dedicated school grant (DSG) deficits up to April this year, expected to cost around £5 billion. In exchange, with local partners, councils must write and get government to sign off on a SEND plan setting out how they will deliver planned reforms. Submitted in June, the DfE is expected to sign off plans this month. Those that don’t make it over the line will have another chance to submit in November. As of early September, Schools Week has found 40 draft plans in England and is publishing these today in an interactive map. They range in length and detail. Most other councils are waiting for DfE approval before revealing their proposals. Ministerial approval It’s worth noting that the “annex A” document that we are publishing in the map is just one of several documents councils were expected to return to DfE, but these were less readily available. These include a data returns spreadsheet and other appendices councils submitted to expand on their plans, which may be available on council’s websites. A SEND delivery board chaired by Tim Coulson, the DfE’s regions group director, will review plans, with education secretary Lucy Powell making the final approval decisions. They will be assessed against a quality assurance framework, which included some controversial targets, as Schools Week revealed earlier this year. DfE and health officials will use the all the information, alongside Ofsted area SEND inspections, to assess performance and delivery at a local level. The government has already warned councils it will revoke their SEND powers if they “persistently fail”, including unprecedented action of transferring responsibilities to a not-for-profit trust. The DfE said plans were live operations documents owned by local area partnerships, which include health and social care colleagues. It’s up to these partnerships whether to publish plans. But approval doesn’t mean delivery arrangements are fixed or final, the DfE said, with councils expected to continue to develop them in response to ongoing SEND reforms. This is all happening ahead of government responding to its SEND reform consultation, held earlier this year. We will update the map each Friday as new plans come online. You can read our investigation into the draft plans’ content here. If you are a council wishing to share your plan, or an interested party such as a school or parent who wants to discuss the contents of a plan, please email samantha.booth@schoolsweek.co.uk.