Does a SENCO have to be a qualified teacher?

Yes. In a mainstream school in England the SENCO must be a qualified teacher or the head teacher, and anyone new to the role since September 2024 must also gain the NPQ for SENCOs within three years. The SENCO (special educational needs coordinator) is the one role in school with a named qualification rule in law, so getting the designation right is a compliance question, not just a staffing preference (SEND Regulations 2014, reg 49).

What the regulation actually says

The person you designate as SENCO must be either a qualified teacher working as a teacher at the school (with induction completed where that applies) or the head teacher or acting head teacher (or, in an academy, the equivalent). In a maintained school the head-teacher route is close to a formality, because a head is a qualified teacher anyway. The clause earns its keep in academies, where the regulation reads “or equivalent” and the proprietor needs to be confident the person meets it. What you cannot do is hand the statutory SENCO designation to a higher-level teaching assistant, an inclusion manager without qualified teacher status, or a non-teaching deputy. They can lead inclusion work; they cannot be the SENCO of record.

Which settings this binds, and which it does not

Reg 49 applies to relevant mainstream schools: maintained schools, academies and free schools. It does not bind special schools, independent schools, or early-years and post-16 settings, where there is no statutory qualified-teacher requirement for the SENCO. The SEND Code of Practice frames the same point: the SENCO must be a qualified teacher working at the school, and it does not extend that duty to special or independent schools (SEND Code of Practice 2015, paras 6.84–6.85). If you are appointing in one of those exempt settings, you have more latitude on who holds the role, though qualified teacher status remains good practice.

The second requirement most people miss: the NPQ

Qualified teacher status is the gateway. There is a second, separate requirement on top of it. A SENCO who is new to the role, and who has not previously been a SENCO at any school for 12 months or more, must gain the prescribed national qualification by the third anniversary of taking up the post. From 1 September 2024 that qualification is the National Professional Qualification for SENCOs (NPQ SENCO), which replaced the National Award for SEN Co-ordination (DfE transition guidance, 2024). NASENCO is legacy: it still counts if your SENCO already holds it, and anyone mid-course is compliant if they finish by 31 August 2027. SENCOs appointed before 1 September 2009 are not required to take the NPQ at all.

This page is general information, not clinical or legal advice.