A SEND provision map should show what support the school offers, who it is for, who delivers it and how leaders know whether it is helping. It should not try to become every pupil’s support plan.
That distinction is the key to making a provision map useful. The map gives leaders a school-wide view. The pupil record explains the individual decision.
What is a SEND provision map?
A provision map is a structured overview of the special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) provision available across a school or trust. It may include ordinarily available provision, targeted interventions, specialist input, staff development, accessibility work and the resources behind them.
The SEND Code of Practice: 0 to 25 years does not prescribe one national provision-map format. Local authority expectations and school systems vary, so the map should use terms staff understand and fit the decisions the school makes.
It should help answer questions such as:
- What is available to all pupils?
- Which support is different from or additional to the universal offer?
- Which pupils or groups receive it?
- What is the staffing or financial commitment?
- Who owns delivery?
- When is it reviewed?
- What evidence informs the next decision?
What belongs in the map?
For each provision line, record enough detail for a leader or SENCO to understand the offer:
- name of the provision;
- barrier or need it is intended to address;
- universal, targeted or specialist category;
- pupil group or eligibility route;
- delivery setting and frequency;
- responsible role;
- resources or estimated cost;
- start date and review date;
- intended outcome;
- evidence source;
- current decision: continue, adapt, pause or stop.
Avoid adding a pupil’s full history to each line. Link to the individual record where a pupil-specific decision is needed.
The Inclusive Mainstream Fund best-practice guidance is useful here because it separates whole-school inclusion principles from targeted support for pupils who need more than the universal offer.
How is a provision map different from a SEN support plan?
A SEN support plan answers: what does this pupil need, what outcome is being worked towards, what will staff do and when will it be reviewed?
A provision map answers: what does the school provide across its cohort, how is it resourced and how does leadership review the offer?
The two should connect but not merge. If the map becomes a list of every pupil’s target, it becomes difficult to maintain and exposes more personal information than leaders need for a school-wide decision. If the plan only points to a generic map entry, it may not tell the teacher what to do for that pupil.
Use the teacher-usable SEN support plan structure for the individual record and the map for the wider pattern.
How should a school build one?
Start with the existing offer
Collect the provision that already happens. Include classroom adaptations, intervention groups, pastoral or attendance support where it is part of the SEND response, specialist advice, staff training and accessibility arrangements.
Do not begin by choosing a software layout. Begin with the decisions leaders need to make. A clean design cannot compensate for a map that omits the support staff deliver.
Separate universal and targeted provision
Ordinarily available provision should be visible because it is the base that every pupil may access. Targeted provision should show the additional decision and the pupil group it serves.
This distinction helps leaders see whether a strategy is improving teaching for everyone or relying on a small number of interventions to compensate for a weak universal offer.
Add ownership and review
Every line needs an owner who can explain how the provision works. Add a review date that means something. For a short intervention, that may be the end of the block. For staff development, it may be a termly check of classroom implementation.
A map with no owner becomes a catalogue. A map with no review becomes a historical record.
Connect cost to the provision
If the school is preparing for changes to mainstream SEND funding, a clear map is a better starting point than a single total. The 2026 funding consultation guide explains why leaders may need to understand the provision and cost assumptions behind their local position.
Record whether a cost is a direct staffing cost, a shared resource, a service cost or an estimate. Keep different grants and funding conditions separate.
Add the evidence behind the next decision
A provision map does not need a long evaluation for every line. It does need a way to answer why the provision is continuing or changing.
Useful evidence may include:
- review decisions from pupil plans;
- participation or access information;
- attendance patterns where they relate to the barrier;
- pupil and family views;
- staff implementation checks;
- specialist advice;
- cost and capacity information.
Use evidence to inform a decision, not to create a league table of pupils or staff.
How often should it be reviewed?
Review the map when the school’s offer, staffing, funding or cohort changes. A short termly check is usually more useful than an annual rewrite because it catches provision that has quietly stopped or changed shape.
At each review, ask:
- Is the provision still being delivered as described?
- Is it reaching the pupils it is intended to support?
- Is the responsible role still correct?
- What does the evidence say about access, participation or progress?
- Is the cost or capacity assumption still realistic?
- Should the school continue, adapt, pause or stop it?
Record the decision and the reason. Do not delete the old entry if it explains a previous decision.
How should a trust use provision maps?
A multi-academy trust (MAT) can use a common set of fields to compare provision without forcing every school into identical local practice.
Standardise the information that needs to travel: provision type, barrier, owner, review date, cost category and evidence. Leave room for local terminology and the school’s own ordinarily available offer.
The goal is not to rank schools by the number of interventions. It is to identify where provision is duplicated, where specialist capacity is stretched and where one school’s practical approach could help another.
Where MeritDocs fits
MeritDocs manages the wider SEND provision workflow, including costed provision mapping, ISP generation, pupil-level support records, APDR reviews, outcomes and governed records. A school can use the map as part of the same system that generates and reviews the ISP, rather than rebuilding context in a separate spreadsheet.
The map still needs a school decision about what counts as provision, what evidence is relevant and what the next action is. MeritDocs supports the complete record and provision-management workflow; it does not choose the school’s inclusion model.
Provision map quality check
A useful map should pass these checks:
- a teacher can understand each provision line;
- universal, targeted and specialist support are distinguishable;
- the intended barrier or need is clear;
- delivery owner, frequency and review date are visible;
- cost assumptions are stated without exposing pupil identities;
- the evidence source is known;
- a current decision is recorded;
- individual pupil plans are linked conceptually but not copied wholesale;
- stale provision is marked rather than silently left in place;
- the map supports a leadership decision.
FAQs
Is a provision map a statutory template?
No single national template applies to every school. Schools should follow local requirements and use a structure that helps them explain their provision and review decisions.
Should every pupil appear by name?
Not necessarily. A school-wide map can describe provision and pupil groups without listing identifiable pupil details. Use individual records for pupil-specific decisions and keep access appropriately controlled.
Can a provision map replace SEN support plans?
No. The map gives a school-wide view. A SEN support plan explains the individual pupil’s barrier, outcome, provision and review decision.
Should funding appear on the map?
It is useful to record relevant cost assumptions and funding sources, provided the school keeps different grants and conditions separate and does not expose personal information.
Status note: Published 3 May 2026. This article distinguishes current requirements from proposals, consultations, announced funding or inspection changes. A proposal or announcement does not create a new statutory duty until the relevant legislation, regulations or official guidance is in force. Check the linked official sources below for the confirmed implementation date and current position.