Bury's Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) Reform Plan has been formally approved by the Department for Education (DfE), the council has confirmed.

The plan provides the framework for delivering national SEND reforms at a local level and driving long-term improvements. A letter from the DfE and the Department of Health and Social Care confirmed that Bury's plan had met the required threshold for approval.

The approval was part of a national process in which the government commissioned every local area partnership to develop and submit a local SEND reform plan jointly with education, health and care partners. In a written statement to Parliament on 29 October, the government confirmed that the plans of 139 local area partnerships had been approved on first submission, including Bury working with NHS Greater Manchester Integrated Care Board.

The minister's statement was careful to note that approval is not an endorsement of current performance, but reflects the government's assessment that a plan meets the required threshold. Approval is also a condition of payment of a local authority's high needs stability grant allocation. Twelve partnerships had their plans deferred pending revision and resubmission.

Bury's plan, submitted to the DfE on 19 June 2026, sets out a three-year transformation programme running to 2029. It aims to build a sustainable, inclusive system for children and young people aged 0 to 25, with needs identified early and supported rapidly, and more children thriving in local mainstream settings wherever possible.

The plan was endorsed by the Bury Locality Board on 1 June and the SEND Improvement and Assurance Board on 11 June. It builds on Bury's improvement work since its 2024 SEND inspection, including a stocktake visit by DfE and NHS England advisers in July.

[Source: burytimes.co.uk](https://www.burytimes.co.uk/news/26697424.burys-special-educational-needs-reform-plan-approved/) | [Source: hansard.parliament.uk](https://hansard.parliament.uk/commons/2026-10-29/debates/26102950000009/LocalSENDReformPlanOutcomes)