Additional Support for Learning: review

Recommendations

Delivering consistent, timely and effective support for children and young people with additional support needs is a whole-system response. No single part of the system can achieve this alone. National and local government, national education bodies, professional bodies, and partners across health and social care must act with shared accountability, clear roles and urgent, aligned effort.

The recommendations set out the actions the system must now take. They reflect what the evidence shows is needed for improved delivery. They emphasise national consistency, cross-system coordination, workforce alignment and earlier, preventative support.

Recommendation 1: National Planning and Staged Intervention

Establish a shared national model for staged intervention and planning, including common expectations, thresholds and supporting tools. This will help reduce avoidable variation, support earlier intervention, and give families a clearer understanding of what they can expect.

Recommendation 2: Workforce Alignment

Align workforce planning so it reflects the scale and complexity of need. This should include a coherent approach to professional learning across the workforce, embedded from initial teacher education or induction through to ongoing development, so staff have the knowledge, confidence, and tools to support children and young people effectively.

Recommendation 3: Early Intervention Capacity

Strengthen system capacity to deliver preventative support, including timely access to specialist services across education, health, and social care, so that support begins early, not once needs escalate.

Recommendation 4: National Visibility of Need, Progress, and Impact

Improve national and local approaches to understanding children and young people’s needs, progress, and experiences, including clearer insight into the quality and impact of support in schools, to support more informed decision-making and improved outcomes.

Recommendation 5: Delivery Model

Establish a clearer national delivery model for additional support for learning, aligned to current levels of need, including consistent expectations for staged intervention, multi-agency coordination, and early support. This should include consideration of whether existing legislation and guidance remain fully fit for purpose.

Recommendation 6: Curriculum design, delivery, and assessment.

Ensure that additional support for learning is embedded as a core consideration within curriculum design, delivery, and assessment, so that approaches to learning consistently reflect the full range of learners in mainstream classrooms and support equitable access to learning and assessment.