Education Law Digest – Summer term 2026: In the news

SEND reform continues to dominate the education landscape

SEND reform remains a central issue for schools and local authorities in 2026 with recent statistics showing an average absence rate of 7.3%, which rises to 19.8% for a child who is on a protection plan at any point. The publication of the Schools White Paper has been accompanied by ongoing stakeholder engagement, consultation activity and increasing sector debate. Schools are likely to see increased emphasis on early intervention, mainstream inclusion and accountability for outcomes, while local authorities continue to operate under significant financial pressure as the end of the DSG statutory override approaches.

Continued DfE focus on school attendance

School attendance continues to be a central focus for the DfE in 2026, with an increasing emphasis on data‑driven intervention and accountability.

Back in November 2025, the Education Secretary published a national roadmap to improve attendance, aimed at returning absence levels to, and beyond, pre‑pandemic norms. While overall attendance improved during the previous academic year, with 5.3 million additional days spent in school and 140,000 fewer persistently absent pupils, government data showed that around one‑third of schools failed to achieve improvement, prompting further intervention.

As part of the roadmap, every school is now being set an individual minimum attendance improvement target, referred to as the Attendance Baseline Improvement Expectation (ABIE). These targets are generated using AI and account for factors such as pupil need, deprivation levels and geographic context, with the intention of tackling variation between schools rather than applying a uniform national benchmark.

The Department is also using attendance data to identify high‑performing schools operating in similar circumstances and link them with those facing greater challenges. In parallel, 36 new Attendance and Behaviour Hubs have been launched to provide one‑to‑one support across hundreds of schools, alongside wider sharing of best practice through events and open days.

The DfE has highlighted particular concern around Key Stage 3, where research shows a notable drop‑off in attendance as pupils transition into secondary education. In response, schools are being issued with targeted toolkits focusing on transition points, such as Year 6 to Year 7 and Year 7 to Year 8, with an emphasis on early engagement, enrichment and community‑building.

These attendance measures sit alongside broader government initiatives aimed at addressing practical barriers to attendance, including the rollout of free breakfast clubs, limits on branded uniform items and expansion of enrichment opportunities designed to increase pupils’ sense of belonging.

For schools, attendance is increasingly framed not only as a safeguarding and wellbeing issue, but as a core performance and inspection consideration, with clear expectations around improvement planning, use of data and evidence of proactive intervention.

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Teacher workforce and pay pressures

Ongoing challenges around recruitment and retention continue to affect the education sector. Last year’s School Workforce Census found that just over 10% of teachers in state-funded school left the profession after their first year. Proposed reforms to the School Teachers’ Review Body framework, alongside wider cost‑of‑living concerns and union pressure on pay, remain key issues for school leaders as they plan for future academic years.

Schools v social media

Breathitt School District in Kentucky has received around £20 million from a group of social media companies, including Meta, Tik Tok, Snap and YouTube, after issuing legal proceedings in California which claimed that their products damaging their pupils’ mental health. The settlement payment will be used to fund specialist mental health support for their pupils. Similar law suits are being planned by other US states and follows a previous finding that Meta and YouTube had intentionally designed addictive products. They say that when America sneezes, Britain catches a cold, so could we see similar proceedings here?