What should be in a SEN information report?

A SEN information report sets out how a school identifies, assesses and supports pupils with SEN: its SEN policies, the SENCO contact, staff expertise, how parents and pupils are involved, and where the Local Offer sits. The exact content is fixed by law. Schedule 1 to the Special Educational Needs and Disability Regulations 2014 lists thirteen items that the report must cover. Many online templates paraphrase the list or quote fourteen items; there are thirteen.

The thirteen items the law requires

Under regulation 51, the governing body of a maintained school or maintained nursery, and the proprietor of an academy, must include the information set out in Schedule 1 in the report. Grouped so you can self-audit, that information is:

1. the kinds of SEN the school makes provision for;
2. its policies for identifying and assessing pupils with SEN (mainstream and maintained nursery schools only);
3. its provision policies: how it evaluates the effectiveness of provision, assesses and reviews progress, adapts teaching, adapts the curriculum and the environment, secures extra support, includes pupils in activities, and supports emotional, mental and social development;
4. the name and contact details of the SENCO (mainstream and maintained nursery schools only);
5. the expertise and training of staff, and how specialist expertise is secured;
6. how equipment and facilities are secured;
7. arrangements for consulting and involving parents;
8. arrangements for consulting and involving the pupil or young person;
9. the complaints arrangements;
10. how the governing body involves health and social care bodies, the local authority and voluntary organisations;
11. contact details of support services for parents, including the independent support available under section 32 (your local SENDIASS);
12. arrangements for transition between phases of education and for preparing for adulthood;
13. where the local authority publishes its Local Offer.

The items reports routinely miss

Three of these are the ones audits catch. The duty to evaluate the effectiveness of your provision is part of item three, not an optional add-on, so a report that only describes what you offer is incomplete. The section 32 support-services contacts (item eleven) and the transition and preparing-for-adulthood arrangements (item twelve) are the two most often left out altogether. Note too that items two and four apply only to mainstream and maintained nursery schools, so a special school does not have to name a SENCO or publish identification policies in the same way.

How it has to be published

The report is not an internal document. The SEND Code of Practice 2015 (paragraph 6.79) says it must be on the school website, written in clear and accessible language, and reviewed and updated at least once a year, with any in-year changes made as soon as possible. It covers every pupil with SEN, whether or not they have an EHC plan. For who is responsible for keeping it current, see what a SENCO actually does, and for the wider picture see a school's legal duties under the SEND Code of Practice.

One thing to keep an eye on, not act on: the 2026 Schools White Paper and the Education for All Bill propose a new Individual Support Plan duty and a narrower role for EHC plans, but those changes are out for consultation and would not take effect before September 2030. The SEN information report duty under the 2014 Regulations is unchanged and still in force.

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