More details released around ‘Experts at Hand’ promised in the SEND reform

The Department for Education has given more details around the Experts at Hand service, including the membership of the expert panel. The panel brings together leading figures from mainstream and specialist education, health, academia and parental engagement to oversee the development of National Inclusion Standards and Specialist Provision Packages.

• You can read more about Experts at Hand in the Education Hub: Experts at Hand: Everything you need to know
• We have also published guides on experts at hand for parents and carers and mainstream education settings.

The government is to invest £1.8 billion across the programme as every local area will begin increasing, from September 2026, access to speech and language therapists, occupational therapists, educational psychologists and specialist teachers working directly with children and young people.

The new Experts at Hand teams will bring specialist expertise out of waiting lists and into the communities where children learn, ensuring families can access support closer to home rather than having to navigate a complex system before help becomes available. The move marks the start of the government's plans to transform support for children and young people with SEND, ending a postcode lottery that has left too many families fighting for support and waiting months or years to receive it.

The National Inclusion Standards will set out what good support looks like across the country, giving schools and colleges clearer expectations and helping ensure children receive consistent support regardless of where they live. In September 2026, the DfE will roll out the first round of additional SEND CPD support for education staff.

The members on the Expert Panel are:

• Alison Stewart, Deputy Director of Children’s Services for the South West London Integrated Care Board
• Professor Susana Castro-Kemp, Professor of Inclusion at the University of Birmingham
• Professor Courtenay Norbury, Vice Dean for Research, Faculty of Brain Sciences and Professor of Developmental Disorders of Language and Communication at University College London
• Katherine Walsh, Director for Inclusion at River Learning Trust
• Ben Bastin, Chair of Natspec and Head of Treloar College
• Mark Vickers MBE, CEO of Olive Academies
• James Waller, Headteacher at Sunningdale School
• Susan Douglas CBE, CEO, The Eden Academy Trust (to join the panel in Autumn 2026)
• Dr Sue Franklin, Principal Educational Psychologist – London Borough of Lewisham (to join panel in Autumn 2026)
• Sarah Clarke, Co-chair of the National Network of Parent Carer Forums (NNPCF), and Director for the South East region
• Professor Karen Guldberg, Head of the School of Education, University of Birmingham

The parental engagement group will be chaired by Jo Harrison, co-chair of NNPCF.