More than a quarter of families who ask for an EHC assessment are refused before it starts. Fewer than half of the plans that are issued arrive inside the statutory deadline. The reformed system does not arrive until 2029, with plan changes later still.
There is one funded route that reaches those children before then, it does not require a plan, and it opens this September. This briefing is about how to use it, and what a service can do before Christmas.
Opens straight away. No sales call unless you ask for one.
Written for people planning services rather than buying software. The part about us is clearly marked and it is short.
Requests, refusals and timeliness in England, and what the 43,300 refused children are entitled to instead.
What the wait to 2029 means for a child who is six, ten or fourteen now, set out year by year.
The four tier model, and the middle tiers the funding is aimed at, where support does not depend on a statutory plan.
Six specific functions the guidance describes, and the practical consequence for how a proposal should be written.
The seven adaptations recommended for autistic children and young people with anxiety, read as a checklist rather than as advice.
The overlap between families refused an assessment and children sitting on a mental health waiting list.
None of which require the reform, a new commissioning round, or anyone's product.
Establish whether the money sits with your trust or with your local authority before you write a word of the proposal.
It is the single most common reason a strong SEND proposal reaches the wrong desk. Experts at Hand and the SEND transformation fund may be held either side, or jointly, and the answer changes who the business case is addressed to, what language it uses, and which committee decides. It takes one phone call and it saves a term.
Experts at Hand places speech and language therapy directly into mainstream settings. The briefing sets out what the guidance asks for and how to write to it.
Same funding route, same delivery model, and the same opportunity to work in setting rather than only receiving referrals into clinic.
Nearly a third of referrals close before any support is given, and many of those children were also refused an assessment. The briefing looks at where that need could be met a tier down.
The timetable, the money, and what a fundable proposal actually contains for children who will not have a plan in time.
Set your caseload and see what Boundless could save your service in year one and over five years, on the independent CHEATA model. Or answer five questions and get the fastest compliant funding and procurement routes for your organisation.
© 2026 XR Therapeutics. Boundless is a therapist-led exposure therapy tool for anxiety, phobias, and avoidance, using realistic digital environments for graded exposure rehearsal within your existing pathway. Figures cited are published at the time of writing and policy timetables are subject to change.