SEND reform: education otherwise than at school (easy read version)

SEND Reform: Education

otherwise than at school

Our consultation

10 July 2026 – 18 September 2026

Introduction

We want all children to be happy learning in the way that suits them best.

Some children and young people with

special educational needs do not

always get this chance.

They can learn in places outside a school or college.

This is called Education otherwise

than at school or EOTAS for short.

This is our consultation to find out what you think about our plans for children and young people who learn outside school or college.

We will also do research to find out if children and young people who use EOTAS are getting on well and learning well.

Our consultation

Our consultation is in 4 parts:

Who decides how EOTAS happens

and how to make it better.

How children and young people

already in EOTAS can be supported.

Supporting children with health needs

to stay in education.

How schools and local authorities can

use online education.

We want to hear from:

People who work in education, health

or a local authority

Parents, carers, children and young

people

How to send your answers

Please answer the questions in the best way you can.

You can ask for a different version of the form by email EOTAS.Consultation@education.gov.uk Write to this address: EOTAS Consultation Department for Education 4th Floor 20 Great Smith Street London SW1P 3BT Please send your answers back by

18 September 2026

1. Making changes to EOTAS

Children and young people who are in EOTAS have lots of different needs.

Sometimes these needs are not met so well. This can be upsetting and difficult.

We need to do better at this.

We want families, local authorities and schools or colleges to work together.

This will help us know more about the special educational needs of children and young people.

Our new SEND plans should mean more children and young people with special educational needs are supported in school and other places.

More about making changes to EOTAS

School or college may not be the best place for all children and young people.

We will use this consultation to find out more about how to make their learning and support better.

We are making changes to Special

Educational Needs and Disabilities or

SEND for short.

These changes are called reforms.

We will bring in support packages for children and young people who have the most needs.

We will test this support with experts and parents.

More about making changes to EOTAS and SEND

We will

Make it clear that EOTAS is still there

for children who need it and cannot go back to school

Always make special needs support

outside of school good and safe

Make sure decisions made are what

the child or young person needs

More about making changes to EOTAS and SEND

Local authorities decide what education is best for children and young people with SEND. We want to find out if this should stay the same.

We think schools and colleges are in a better place to take charge of how children and young people in EOTAS learn.

Some children and young people would do better going back to school and college but it can be upsetting.

We want to find out how parents can

work with schools and local authorities

to work out what is best

question decisions made about EOTAS

How do we support the needs of children

and young people who can’t get a

support package or be in school or

college?

Please write your answer in the box

Who should be in charge of running

EOTAS?

Put a tick or mark in one of the boxes Shared between school and local authority School or college Someone else I don’t know Please tell us more in the box if you want to

Question 2b

What support is needed to make sure

EOTAS is delivered well?

Write your answer in the box

How do we make sure EOTAS is only

used when it is the best choice for the

child or young person?

Write your answer in the box

What is the most important thing to think

about when a child in EOTAS might

move back into school?

Write your answer in the box How do we make sure that planning for a

child to move back into school is the

best decision?

Write your answer in the box

How can parents be supported to

challenge a decision about changing or

not allowing EOTAS?

Write your answer in the box

1. Supporting children and young people on EOTAS

We want to make sure children and young people who are in EOTAS get the best education.

We want parents to know that EOTAS is safe and works well.

We need to make sure EOTAS children get the same care and safety as other children at school.

We want to make this happens for young people over 16 years old too.

Do you think EOTAS special education

should follow our new standards for

school age children?

Put a tick or mark in one of the boxes Yes, I agree No, I don’t agree I don’t know

Do you agree or disagree that local

authorities should make sure that EOTAS

happens in a good and safe way?

Put a tick or mark in one of the boxes Yes, I agree No, I don’t agree I don’t know

Should EOTAS for young people aged

16-25 years old match what happens for

school age children?

Put a tick or mark in one of the boxes Yes No I don’t know

2. Supporting children and young people on EOTAS

SEND reforms will start from 2030.

We know a lot of children and parents might be worried about changes.

We want to find out if children who get EOTAS should be supported back into school when the SEND changes happen.

We want to find out what people think about the SEND changes for

• Secondary school age children and

young people who are over 16 years

old who get EOTAS – we are not changing EOTAS for these children

• Primary school children and

younger children who get EOTAS –

we want to see if it would be better for them to go back to school with extra support Can you tell us the best ways to check if

children and young people are ready to

move back into school or college and

how to support them?

Write your answer in the box

3. Supporting children and young people with health needs

Some children with health needs get their education in an alternative provision or AP for short.

Missing out on school can affect children and young people in a bad way. We want to stop this from happening.

Children learning in alternative provision should get the education that works best for them at the time.

It is important to plan how they can go back to school or college as soon as possible.

More about supporting children and young people with health needs

We want schools, local authorities and health services to work together to do what is best.

Schools should make changes for children with health needs or find a different way for them to learn.

This support should happen as early as possible.

We want our SEND reforms to make this better.

Is our system doing well for children

with health needs to get support early in

education?

Put a tick or mark in one of the boxes Yes No I don’t know

Please tell us more about how schools,

local authorities and health partners

could do better with support?

Write your answer in the box

Part 4 – Online education

Online education can be a great support for some children and young people who need alternative provision to learn.

But we need to make sure it is used in the right way.

We want to do everything we can to keep children and young people safe online.

We want to find out if we have the right systems in place to keep children and young people safe online.

We want. children and young people to learn online for a short amount of time.

If children learn online, they will still be on the school register. They can go back to school when they are ready.

Please tell us more about online

education - for example, should it be for

a set amount of time?

Write your answer in the box

Questions about the consultation

Our consultation runs from

10 July 2026 to 18 September 2026

You can send questions about the consultation to EOTAS.Consultation@education.gov.uk Email Consultations.Coordinator@education.gov.uk , Call this number

0370 000 2288

DfE Contact us page You can download the full consultation Gov.UK DfE consultations

SEND reform: education otherwise than at school (easy read version)