From Beth Moulam, Communication Matters Trustee:
The Department for Education has announced an online consultation around the proposed new Special Educational Needs and Disability Code of Practice. This closes on 14 January 2026. This consultation is the chance for all AAC users, families and professionals to have a say about AAC provision. Your voice matters!
You can access the consultation here, and don’t forget you can also contact your local MP.
Key points to include are:
- The importance of Integrated Care Boards (ICBs) and local authorities meeting their statutory duty to support all children to communicate including those with little or no speech that need AAC.
- The need for every child, including AAC users, to be taught literacy and have access to the national curriculum.
- Concerns around abolition of NHS England and the move of Regional AAC Specialised Services to lead ICBs with the continuity of services and staff retention.
- The lack of local AAC services which should support all AAC users with assessment and ongoing professional support, referring those with complex communication and assessment needs (high cost – low incidence need) to Regional Specialised Services for expert assessment whilst providing the majority of users with local assessment and equipment locally.
- A well trained multi-disciplinary children’s workforce to identify the need for AAC early and refer promptly to the local AAC service for assessment and support. Head teachers should not be able to disapply children with PMLD from communication assessment or access to the national curriculum without specialist AAC assessment.
- Communication impairment to be given the same priority as vision and hearing impairment in future policy including the need for specialist teachers,
Join the conversation at https://consult.education.gov.uk/digital-communication-team/send-reform-national-conversation/ and make your views count!
Communication Matters believes that thousands of children across the UK who need Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) tools—ranging from simple symbol books to high-tech voice devices—are being denied their fundamental right to communicate and learn.
While international conventions and UK laws guarantee every child’s right to communicate, the system is failing due to missing local AAC services, lack of joint funding between health and education authorities, no national screening program to identify children who need help, and insufficient training for teachers and early years staff to recognise communication needs.
Despite the need for consistent access to communication devices, many children only get access to their communication devices during school hours. Some schools do not have an AAC policy and children who use AAC don’t receive the same level of specialist support as those with vision or hearing impairments—creating a devastating gap between policy promises and real-world practice.
There are compelling case studies of students with cerebral palsy and physical disabilities who were wrongly labelled as having severe or profound learning difficulties and denied access to mainstream education, but who—when given proper Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) tools and assistive technology—went on to achieve GCSEs, A-Levels, and even university degrees.
The UK’s proposed SEND reforms are failing this population by allowing the National Curriculum to be routinely disapplied without proper assessment, by lacking expertise in AAC across teaching and therapy professions leading to widespread misdiagnosis, by offering no pathway between restrictive special schools (which rarely teach beyond basic functional skills) and mainstream schools (which lack AAC expertise), and by regularly limiting post-16 funding to just two years despite students legally being entitled to education until age 25 under their Education, Health and Care Plans.
Communication Matters urgently calls for systematic reforms, including mandatory school AAC policies, proper funding for local assessment services, comprehensive professional training, updated screening guidance, and most critically, ensuring every child has supported and consistent access to their communication device so they can develop the skills needed for education, social relationships, and future independence.
The Government consultation is open until Wednesday 14 January 2026, and they ‘want to hear from everyone – from parents to those working in schools, colleges and early years – to help shape the system our children and young people deserve.‘
