Individual Support Plans (ISPs): What Schools Need to Know and Do Now

Individual Support Plans (ISPs) are the biggest change to everyday SEND practice proposed in the government's schools white paper, Every Child Achieving and Thriving. If the reforms pass as planned, every child with identified SEND in England will be entitled to one, whether or not they have an EHCP.

There is also a lot of confusion about them. Some schools have been told ISPs are already a legal requirement. They are not, yet. This guide sets out what ISPs are, where the reforms stand as of October 2026, and the practical steps SENCOs and school leaders can take now so the change feels like an upgrade rather than a scramble.

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What is an Individual Support Plan (ISP)?

An ISP is a digital plan, written by the school with parents, that records how a child with SEND will be supported day to day. Under the proposals, ISPs would sit at the heart of a new tiered system of support (universal, targeted, targeted plus and specialist), with ISPs covering children who need targeted or targeted plus support without needing an EHCP.

According to the House of Commons Library's summary of the white paper, an ISP would record:

• Barriers to learning: what is getting in the way for this child
• Day-to-day provision: the support and interventions in place
• Reasonable adjustments: changes to teaching, environment or routines
• Intended outcomes: what the support is meant to achieve

ISPs would be developed with parents and updated at least once a year.

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Are ISPs a legal requirement yet?

No. This is the most important point to get right. The white paper sets out proposals, and the law has not changed. The Children and Families Act 2014 and the current SEND Code of Practice still apply.

Here is where things stand:

• 23 February 2026: the white paper Every Child Achieving and Thriving was published.
• 13 May 2026: the King's Speech announced an Education for All Bill to take the reforms into law.
• 18 May 2026: the main consultation, SEND reform: putting children and young people first, closed. The government's response had not been published as of early autumn 2026.
• September 2029 (proposed): the earliest date ISPs are expected to become a statutory duty, if legislation passes as planned.
• September 2030 (proposed): the earliest point any child would move from an EHCP to the new system. There are to be no changes to support provided through EHCPs before then.

Timelines can move during consultation and Parliamentary debate, so treat 2029 as the earliest date, not a guarantee.

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If the duty is years away, why act now?

Because the expectations behind ISPs are arriving well before the legal duty.

• The Inclusive Mainstream Fund comes with a deadline this year. As a condition of the fund (£1.6 billion over three years from 2026/27), every mainstream school must publish an inclusion strategy on its website by 31 December 2026, setting out the activity it is funding against the DfE's seven principles of inclusion and the budgeted costs. That is far easier to write, and to defend, if you already know what support each learner gets and what it costs.
• Inspection is already looking at inclusion. Ofsted's updated inspection framework, in use since September 2026, places a clear focus on inclusion and on how well schools identify and meet pupils' needs.
• Good ISPs need good habits. Co-producing plans with parents, recording provision consistently and reviewing impact are cultural changes. Schools that start now will have three years of evidence and practice behind them in 2029.

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ISP, IEP, provision map, EHCP: how do they fit together?

Most schools already record some of this, just in different places:

• IEPs and support plans: many schools already use individual plans with targets. An ISP is broader: it adds barriers to learning, reasonable adjustments and the parent's contribution, and is expected to be digital.
• Provision maps: these record the interventions running across the school, often with costs. An ISP brings that provision down to the individual learner, connected to their outcomes.
• EHCPs: these remain for children with the most complex needs. Children with EHCPs keep them until at least the end of their current phase of education.

In practice, the ISP is likely to become the single record that joins these up for each learner.

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Seven steps schools can take now

1. Audit your SEN register. Check that every learner on it has an up-to-date record of need. Remove those who no longer need support, and look for learners who need support but are not on the register.

2. Map your current plans against the four ISP elements. For a sample of learners, check whether you can see their barriers, provision, adjustments and intended outcomes in one place. Where the information is scattered across documents, note where it lives today.

How PAGS helps: every PAGS Learner Plan already holds the learner's assessed needs, targets, provisions and review history in one record, so this audit becomes a quick report rather than a hunt through folders.

3. Move to one digital format. ISPs are proposed as digital plans. Pick one consistent structure now rather than maintaining Word documents, spreadsheets and paper files side by side.

4. Build parent co-production into every review. Make sure parents contribute to plans, not just receive them. Record what parents tell you and how it changed the plan.

How PAGS helps: through the PAGS Parent Portal, parents can add Parent Voice, see their child's targets and comment on progress. Every contribution is timestamped, so you can show exactly how families shaped the plan.

5. Link provision to cost and impact. For each intervention, record who delivers it, how often, what it costs and whether it is working. This is exactly what your inclusion strategy and Inclusive Mainstream Fund spending will need to show.

How PAGS helps: each provision in PAGS carries staff hours and costs, and progress is recorded against targets at every review. You can see what each intervention costs and whether it is working, for a learner, a year group or the whole school.

6. Make plans usable by class teachers. An ISP only works if the people teaching the child every day can see it and act on it. Plans should be short, specific and accessible to every member of staff who needs them.

How PAGS helps: teachers see each learner's current targets and the strategies that help them, ready for today's lesson, without having to read the full plan or wait for a conversation with the SENCO.

7. Connect it to your inclusion strategy. Your 31 December 2026 inclusion strategy is the first public test of whether your school can show what support it provides and why. Use your ISP preparation as the evidence base for it.

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What to watch for next

• The government's response to the SEND reform consultation
• The Education for All Bill being introduced to Parliament
• A consultation on a revised SEND Code of Practice, which is planned to follow the consultation response
• Further guidance on National Inclusion Standards

We will update this guide as each of these is published.

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Getting ISP-ready with PAGS

PAGS was built around per-learner planning long before ISPs were proposed, so schools using it are already working the way the white paper describes. Here is how the proposed ISP elements map to PAGS today:

• Barriers to learning: UCL-validated assessments across the developmental areas of need show what is getting in the way for each learner, and why.
• Day-to-day provision: Learner Plans record every intervention, who delivers it, how often and what it costs.
• Reasonable adjustments: strategies matched to each learner's profile are visible to every teacher who works with them.
• Intended outcomes: targets and objectives are tracked at every review, building an evidence trail automatically.
• Developed with parents: the Parent Portal brings families into the plan, with a full audit trail.
• Digital and reviewed at least annually: everything lives in one cloud platform, with review history built in.

The same data also evidences your inclusion strategy, EHCP applications and Ofsted conversations, so the work is done once.

Schools already working this way: Stone Soup Academy has achieved three consecutive Ofsted Outstanding judgements using PAGS, with attendance among targeted learners rising from 1% to 70%. ALET Education Trust uses PAGS to standardise SEND provision across six schools.

PAGS is a flat annual fee, with no per-pupil or per-user charges. Book a demo to see an ISP-ready Learner Plan in action, explore Learner Plans and Provision Mapping, or check how much of PAGS your Inclusive Mainstream Fund could cover.

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Frequently asked questions

When do Individual Support Plans become statutory?

The government has proposed September 2029, subject to legislation passing. Until then, the current SEND framework under the Children and Families Act 2014 applies.

Will every child with SEND get an ISP?

That is the proposal. Every child or young person with identified SEND would be entitled to an ISP, regardless of whether they also have an EHCP.

Do ISPs replace EHCPs?

Not entirely. EHCPs are proposed to remain for children with the most complex needs. For other children, ISPs would become the main record of support. There will be no changes to support provided through EHCPs before at least September 2030.

Who writes the ISP?

The school, working with parents. Plans are expected to draw on input from families and, where relevant, specialists.

How often must ISPs be reviewed?

At least once a year under the proposals. Many schools will review more often, in line with the assess, plan, do, review cycle.

What is the 31 December 2026 deadline?

That is the deadline for schools to publish an inclusion strategy as a condition of receiving the Inclusive Mainstream Fund. It is separate from the ISP proposals, but the two are closely linked.

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Further reading

How to Write Your School Inclusion Strategy: A Guide to the 31 December 2026 Deadline

SEND Reform Readiness Planning Guide

The Inclusion Readiness Assessment

New SENCO: How to Learn the Role

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This guide reflects the position as of October 2026 and is not legal advice. Sources: DfE, Every Child Achieving and Thriving (February 2026); House of Commons Library briefing CBP-10550 (September 2026); DfE, Developing an inclusion strategy using the Inclusive Mainstream Fund.