SEND Leaders Summit 2026

An interview with a founder/CEO, discussing their personal journey, how they built and scaled their business, where they think the market is heading, and how they are steering through funding pressure and a shifting regulatory landscape.

A briefing on the Government’s SEND reform programme and White Paper. This session will consider the direction of travel on EHCPs (with the caseload now above a record 718,000) inclusion funding, the future role of independent and non-maintained special schools, and the regulatory change coming alongside. Exploring what is opportunity, what is threat, and what leaders should be doing now.

Private equity and trade consolidation have reshaped the sector. This panel will look at where deal activity and valuations are heading, what investors are really looking for, how founders should think about growth capital versus exit, and how ownership change plays out for quality, culture and staff.

With councils under acute financial pressure and the DSG statutory override due to unwind, fee settlements, placement pipelines and payment terms are the number-one commercial issue for providers. This session will cover practical ground on pricing and fee strategy, building resilient local-authority and ICB relationships, framework versus spot dynamics, and protecting margin without compromising provision.

Staffing is the sector’s binding constraint, with recruitment, retention, the cost of agency cover and the 2026 pay award all impacting directly on quality and on the P&L. This session will explore working strategies on pay and reward, career pathways, culture, the leadership pipeline, and cutting reliance on agency. 

A practical look for decision-makers at where AI and technology are genuinely moving the needle (cutting administrative and reporting burden, strengthening safeguarding and case recording, supporting communication and personalised learning, etc) as well as the data-protection, governance and safeguarding guardrails that leaders need around them.