Education Otherwise Than in a School (EOTIS): Have Your Say by 18 September

Parents, carers, and SEND organisations have one week left to respond to Government proposals that could reshape education provided for thousands of children and young people whose needs cannot be met in a school setting.

The current consultation forms part of the UK Government’s reform programme of the system that supports children and young people with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities, or SEND, in England.

BIHR responded to an initial public consultation on SEND reform earlier this year, co-produced with our RITES Committee. Now, the Department for Education is asking for views on changes to education provided to children and young people for whom a school or college setting is inappropriate. This is referred to as education otherwise than in a school (EOTIS), and includes early years and post-16 settings.

BIHR is concerned that aspects of the proposed reforms could further weaken accountability within the SEND system and reduce opportunities for families to challenge decisions affecting their child’s education.

For some children and young people, education in any setting would be inappropriate due to the nature of their special educational needs. EOTIS is different to elective home education, and different from the duty on local authorities to arrange education for children who are unable to attend school due to illness, exclusion or other reasons.

If a local authority agrees it would be inappropriate for any necessary special educational provision to be delivered in a school, it can agree for provision to be delivered elsewhere, including at a child’s home, and it must arrange and pay for that provision in line with the Children and Families Act 2014. Department for Education 2026 data shows that 16,000 children and young people in England receive EOTIS.

IPSEA has created a useful quick guide to EOTIS.

Amongst the Government’s proposals, the consultation says EOTIS will be tied in with new Specialist Provision Packages (SPPs), which BIHR has already warned are confusing and risk a one-size-fits-all approach to SEND support, when this should be tailored to each individual child’s needs.

One of the most concerning proposals is that parents and young people would not be able to appeal decisions about whether EOTIS should be provided, or whether an EOTIS package is changed or removed. One of the main concerns BIHR raised in response to the original consultation was that reforms risked a reduction in system accountability, which we repeat here as appeal rights could be weakened further.

Effective routes to challenge decisions are especially important given that 95% of SEND Tribunal appeals are currently decided in favour of families. This suggests that many families already need formal redress to secure appropriate support.

Back in April, BIHR worked with our RITES Committee to co-produce a response to the initial consultation, drawing on our expertise of the Human Rights Act and our direct work supporting people with lived and practice experience of the SEND system.

The proposals in this EOTIS consultation reflect concerns BIHR has already raised about the wider SEND reform programme: greater complexity for parents and young people to navigate, and reduced accountability and enforceability of suitable support.

In our previous consultation response, we recommended that the Government focus on better resourcing the current SEND system, rather than rewriting it, by ensuring that robust routes for redress are available, assessments and support are person-centred, and public authorities are actively enabled to meet their legal duties under the Human Rights Act to respect, protect and fulfil the rights of children and young people with SEND, and their families. We reiterate this call here, to ensure the same consideration for human rights is given to children and young people for whom education in a school would be inappropriate.

Back in May 2026, an ‘Education for All Bill’ was announced in the King’s Speech which would introduce ‘generational reforms of the special educational needs system’. This has not yet been introduced to Parliament.

BIHR will be monitoring SEND reform over the coming months, and we welcome opportunities to work with the Department for Education to ensure reforms are firmly grounded in our Human Rights Act.

The consultation closes on 18 September. BIHR encourages parents, carers, practitioners and organisations to share their views on the proposals, particularly where they may affect accountability, access to redress and the realisation of children's human rights.

You can find out more about why human rights matter in SEND support by browsing our blog series. We explore key issues and rights for children, young people and families including school transport and the right to education (Article 2, Protocol 1), and we share practical tips for raising a human rights issue with a public authority.