The Government has announced a new Experts at Hand service for children and young people with SEND, bringing specialist support closer to schools and early years settings. The building blocks has responded by booking a meeting about whether it is emotionally prepared for a policy with an actual route from problem to help.
On 5 June 2026, the Government said it was investing £1.8 billion in the rollout across England. From September, local areas were expected to increase access to speech and language therapists, occupational therapists, specialist teachers and educational psychologists. These professionals are intended to work alongside mainstream schools, colleges and early years settings, helping staff identify needs earlier and arrange support more quickly.
The stated ambition is to offer more support without requiring a diagnosis first. This is a serious attempt to move expertise closer to the places where children learn, rather than making every family demonstrate Olympic endurance in the waiting list. The building blocks applauds the principle, then asks whether the Olympic committee will accept a completed referral form as proof of stamina.
The Government also announced plans for national inclusion standards and specialist provision packages, alongside a panel to help shape wider reforms. In ordinary language, schools are meant to receive clearer expectations about good support, while children with more complex needs should have a clearer account of the help they can expect.
That is the promise. The practical test will be less decorative. Therapists, teachers and educational psychologists must actually be available. Schools must know how to reach them. Families must be able to understand what happens next without hiring a second family to translate the first explanation.
This is where public policy meets the filing cabinet, that ancient institution which accepts every urgent request and returns it wearing a different reference number. A national standard may be useful, but only if it survives contact with a real school, a real waiting list and a real parent trying to find the correct form before the child has graduated.
The building blocks has therefore submitted its recommendation. Every future guidance document should contain one large arrow pointing to the person who can actually help, followed by a second large arrow pointing away from the first form, which was apparently only there to identify the existence of the other form. The consultation is expected to last until someone finds the consultation about consultations.
Source: GOV.UK.
