How to become a SENCO

To become a SENCO (special educational needs coordinator) in England you must hold qualified teacher status, and a newly appointed SENCO without previous experience in the role has to gain the National Professional Qualification for SENCOs within a set period of starting. That NPQ replaced the older National Award for SEN Coordination (NASENCO) for new SENCOs. Most SENCOs are experienced teachers who have worked closely with pupils with special educational needs before taking the post.

What the SENCO is responsible for

Under the SEND code of practice, every maintained school and academy in England must have a SENCO. The SENCO coordinates provision for pupils with special educational needs and disabilities across the school. In practice that means:

• keeping the school’s register of pupils on SEN support up to date
• advising teachers on how to adapt teaching for particular pupils
• managing and deploying teaching assistants who support SEN pupils
• working with parents, educational psychologists, speech and language therapists and other services
• leading requests for EHC needs assessments and preparing for annual reviews of education, health and care plans
• tracking whether interventions are making a difference

The paperwork is heavy. EHCP reviews, local authority deadlines and evidence for funding take up a large share of the week, and the number of pupils with plans has risen in recent years. In a small primary school the SENCO may also be a class teacher, the deputy head or the designated safeguarding lead, which makes protected time for the SEN work hard to find. Ask at interview how many days a week are set aside for the role.

Qualified teacher status first

A SENCO must be a qualified teacher (or the headteacher). In practice you need a degree, QTS, completed early career teacher induction and several years of classroom teaching. The usual stepping stone is experience as a class teacher with a high proportion of SEN pupils, as an assistant SENCO, or in a special school or resource base. If you are still at the start, see our guides to what QTS is and teaching in a special school.

The NPQ for SENCOs

The National Professional Qualification for Special Educational Needs Co-ordinators is one of the DfE’s suite of NPQs. It covers identifying need, working with families and outside agencies, the legal framework for SEND, and leading staff. You study it part-time alongside the job through accredited providers, mixing online study, face-to-face sessions and work-based tasks.

New SENCOs who started before the change and were already on the NASENCO course could finish it. If you are appointed now and have not been a SENCO before, the NPQ is the qualification that counts. Funding for NPQ places has changed from year to year and depends on your school’s circumstances, so check the current position on the DfE page or with a provider before you enrol. Our overview of NPQs lists the others.

How SENCOs are paid

There is no separate SENCO pay scale. A SENCO in England is paid as a teacher, plus one or more additions depending on how the school structures the role:

Payment	Range from 1 September 2026 (England)
SEN allowance	£2,885 to £5,690
TLR2	£3,651 to £8,913
TLR1	£10,531 to £17,819
Leadership group (if the SENCO is on the leadership pay range)	£53,586 to £148,829 outside London

The SEN allowance is mainly for teachers in special schools or in SEN-specific posts, and some schools pay it to the SENCO. Others pay a TLR, and many secondary schools put the SENCO on the leadership range as an assistant head. These figures follow the STRB’s recommendations accepted by the government, with the final STPCD 2026 expected around early November 2026 and backdated to 1 September. Academies set their own pay policies. See SEN allowance and TLR payments for how each works.

A teacher at the top of the main pay range outside London (M6) is on £46,940, so a SENCO on M6 with a TLR2 at the bottom of its range would be on £50,591 before tax. The take-home pay calculator shows what that leaves after tax, National Insurance and pension.

Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland

The SENCO role and the NPQ apply only in England. Wales has replaced SENCOs with additional learning needs coordinators (ALNCos) under its own system. Scotland uses support for learning teachers within its additional support for learning framework, and Northern Ireland has its own SEN framework. Pay and qualification rules differ in each, so check the relevant education department before applying across borders.

Finding a SENCO post

Most SENCO and assistant SENCO roles in England appear on the DfE Teaching Vacancies service and are listed under school leadership jobs. Applications are on a teacher application form. Describe the SEN work you have led, the size of caseload you have handled, and how you have worked with families and other professionals.