Special educational needs and disabilities (SEND)

The Children and Families Act 2014 (CFA 2014) came into force on 1 September 2014, replacing the Education Act 1996 (EA 1996), under which children received provision through statements of special educational need (SEN). CFA 2014 required statements to be replaced in England with Education, Health and Care (EHC) plans. In Wales, Additional Learning Needs and Education Tribunal (Wales) Act 2018 (ALNET(W)A 2018) and is now largely in force together with a new Additional Learning Needs Code, which will abolish statements and learning disability assessments (LDA) replacing them with individual development plans (IDP). There will be a transitional implementation over a number of years.

CFA 2014 (England)

Under CFA 2014, a child or young person has special educational needs if they have a learning difficulty or disability that calls for special educational provisions to be made for them. Special educational provisions are additional or different from that which would normally be provided for children or young people of the same age. This extends the definition under the EA 1996 to young people as well as children and also includes

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Local Government weekly highlights—4 September 2025

This week's edition of Local Government weekly highlights includes: case analysis of G (A Child: Scope of Fact-Finding), in which the Court of Appeal considered when a fact-finding hearing is necessary to inform a risk assessment and Saravanamuthu v SSCHLG on a challenge to the validity of a compulsory purchase order. Case reports include Somani Hotels Ltd v Epping Forest DC in which the court lifted the injunction on the use of hotels for asylum seekers and allowed the SSHD to join proceedings as an intervenor; R (Paul Knights) v South Norfolk DC, in which the Administrative Court quashed planning approval for ignoring key evidence; Mole Valley DC v SSHCLG in which the High Court rejected the Green Belt challenge and the application for judicial and statutory review was deemed unarguable; R (SK) v Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead in which the court set aside an interim mandatory injunction in finding that the claimant did not establish a strong case that the current accommodation was unsuitable simply due to one of the child’s temporary inpatient stays in hospital which impeded frequent visits; and Iqbal v Listing Officer Epsom, which upheld the decision that the Class G council tax exemption did not apply to the dwelling in question. Further developments include MHCLG’s launch of consultation on measures to streamline infrastructure planning process and response to the LGSCO Triennial Review declining to make use of revised Complaint Handling Code mandatory; the Cabinet Office’s update of Model Services Contract and Guidance for buyers under PA 2023; DfE notices to improve, guidance on Terrorism Act compliance for the education sector and consultation response on unregistered alternative provision standards. It includes further updates on Social housing, Social care, Education, Healthcare and Governance.

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