This is The Guardian. Today, will the government fix our broken special educational needs system? We are moving to tackle the generational challenges in our system, supporting children with

send to succeed.

After a year of delay, the government next week will finally release a long-expected white paper.

The government had been due to announce reforms to the send system in the coming weeks,

but has delayed its plans until the new year.

It's setting up plans to tackle the spiraling crisis in support for children with special educational needs in England.

In England today, around one in five children are identified as needing specialised educational support, known as Send.

And the system designed to support them is buckling under the pressure.

Local authorities are facing billion pound deficits in funding.

Diagnoses are spiraling.

Desperate parents are taking councils to tribunals in record numbers and winning. Centreform sits in one of the

most politically combustible spaces in British public policy, children's rights, public money

and parental trust in the state. The government says big changes will have to be made as the current system is failing.

But the proposed reforms are already causing huge anxiety among parents and leading them to ask one question.

From The Guardian, I'm Annie Kelly. Today in Focus. Thank you. parents and leading them to ask one question.

From The Guardian, I'm Annie Kelly.

Today in focus, are these reforms really about helping our most vulnerable children?

Or cutting costs?

Lexi Topping, you are a political correspondent for The Guardian and we're here today to talk about the Sen crisis, the reforms the government are about to announce.

And this is an area that is so full of acronyms.

So I thought we could start by just trying to explain some of them.

When we talk about Sen or Send, what does that mean and how many children are affected or come under that term?

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