In a sweeping move set to reshape the English education landscape, the government has unveiled plans to require all state schools to join high-quality trusts, with new incentives and reforms aimed at closing the persistent gap between disadvantaged pupils and their more affluent peers. Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson announced the changes on February 21, 2026, just days before the official release of the government’s much-anticipated schools white paper, which is expected to serve as the blueprint for a new generation of educational opportunity.
Central to the reforms is a pilot program offering retention payments of up to £15,000 to newly-appointed headteachers who commit to working for sustained periods in areas of greatest need. According to Schools Week, this initiative is designed to attract and keep talented leaders in regions where educational outcomes have historically lagged behind the national average. The details of the pilot remain under wraps, but government officials say the goal is clear: to ensure that every child, regardless of where they live, has access to excellent school leadership.
But that’s just one piece of a much larger puzzle. In what The Sunday Times describes as a major education overhaul, the government plans to ensure every state school is part of a high-quality trust—a network of schools working together under a single governance structure. Local authorities will be allowed to set up their own chains, provided they meet strict standards. While it remains unclear whether joining a trust will be strictly mandatory or strongly encouraged, the message from ministers is unmistakable: the era of the stand-alone school is coming to an end.
“Our schools white paper presents the blueprint for opportunity for the next generation, with an education system that truly serves every child, whatever their needs and wherever in the country they grow up,” Phillipson wrote in the Sunday Times. She added, “I will finish what the previous Labour government started, and ensure all schools join high-quality trusts. And where they can meet the high standards we set, local authorities will be able to establish their own trusts.”
This push to expand trusts is not just a bureaucratic reshuffle. The government says it is about “cutting the link between background and success”—a longstanding challenge in English education. Data released by the Department for Education (DfE) shows that just 44 percent of children from low-income families achieve at least a grade 4 in English and maths, compared to over 70 percent of their better-off classmates. Bridging that gap, ministers argue, is essential for social mobility and national prosperity.
The upcoming white paper, due for publication on February 24, 2026, will also unveil plans to emulate the much-lauded London Challenge—a Blair-era program credited with transforming education in the capital. The new initiatives, dubbed “mission north east” and “mission coastal,” will bring together schools, parents, and communities in some of the country’s most disadvantaged regions. The aim? To develop innovative strategies that deliver sustained improvement and serve as a model for the rest of the nation.
“For too long, schools have been treated as islands rather than one part of their communities, with the old system focused only on what happens when children walk through the school gates,” the DfE said in a statement. The new approach, officials hope, will foster greater collaboration and accountability—not just among schools, but between schools and the families they serve.
Parental engagement is another key theme of the reforms. The white paper will set minimum expectations for how schools communicate with parents, including provisions for timely updates and smooth transitions from primary to secondary education. These standards, the government argues, will help build trust and ensure parents are active partners in their children’s learning journey.
Attendance is also firmly in the spotlight. Ministers have set an ambitious target: to recover 20 million school days per year by July 2029, compared to the 2023-24 academic year. That’s the equivalent of 100,000 more pupils attending school full-time—a significant boost at a time when absenteeism has become a growing concern in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and its lingering effects on family routines and student wellbeing.
To better reflect the achievements of students who start secondary school significantly behind their peers, the government will explore a new progress measure. This metric, officials say, is intended to capture the full range of student growth and ensure that schools are recognized for supporting pupils who face the steepest challenges.
Funding reforms are another major component of the overhaul. Currently, schools receive extra money—such as the pupil premium—only for children whose families have applied for free school meals, a process that is optional and sometimes stigmatizing. Under the new system, family income data will replace free school meals eligibility as the trigger for deprivation funding. The DfE says this could “significantly rebalance how deprivation funding is distributed to schools, and in turn the level of support that schools with the poorest children receive.”
Government officials explained, “The model could take into account how low family income is, for how long this has been the case and the place a child lives. It would also remove the need for families to choose to take up the offer of a free meal in order to be eligible for deprivation funding and reduce the administrative burden on schools.” In practice, this could mean more targeted support for schools serving communities with entrenched poverty, and a fairer allocation of resources across the country.
The white paper will also address the needs of students with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND), promising generational reform to a system that many families and educators say is under strain. Details are still emerging, but the commitment to overhaul SEND provision is being welcomed by campaigners who have long argued for more inclusive and better-resourced support.
In a further boost for school staff, the government announced earlier in the week that employees will now receive eight weeks of full maternity pay—a move that has been broadly welcomed by teaching unions as a step toward improving recruitment and retention in a profession facing significant workforce challenges.
While the repeated leaks and micro-announcements ahead of the white paper’s official release have drawn criticism from some quarters, there is broad consensus that the stakes could hardly be higher. With the attainment gap stubbornly wide and regional inequalities persisting, the government’s reforms represent both an opportunity and a test.
As the education sector awaits the full details of the white paper, one thing is certain: the coming years will bring significant changes to how schools are run, how they are funded, and how they are held accountable for the success of every child. Whether these reforms will deliver on their ambitious promises remains to be seen—but for now, the stage is set for a new chapter in English education.