Definition
An Inclusion Manager is a senior school staff member responsible for inclusion, vulnerable groups, and pastoral support across the school. The role is not statutory. It overlaps with SENCO, pastoral leader, designated safeguarding lead, or assistant head depending on the school's leadership structure.
In context for parents
Key checkpoints
- An Inclusion Manager is a senior staff member responsible for inclusion, vulnerable groups, and pastoral support across a school.
- Not a statutory role, overlaps with SENCO, pastoral leader, DSL, or assistant head depending on leadership structure.
- Typical portfolio: SEND, pupil premium, attendance, behaviour, mental health, looked-after children.
- Often the right escalation point above the class teacher and SENCO, particularly where the issue cuts across SEND, behaviour, and attendance.
- Senior Mental Health Lead training (DfE-funded since 2021) is often held by Inclusion Managers.
Inclusion Manager roles in English schools usually carry a portfolio that includes SEND (often combined with the SENCO role, sometimes separate), pupil premium and disadvantaged groups, attendance and behaviour, mental health (sometimes as the Mental Health Lead), and looked-after children. The combination reflects the policy reality that the same children frequently sit in multiple vulnerable groups: pupil premium children with SEND, care-experienced pupils with SEMH, attendance concerns linked to undiagnosed neurodivergence.
In a primary school, the Inclusion Manager is often the SENCO with additional pastoral responsibility. In a secondary school, the role may be a separate Assistant Head with a team underneath (heads of year, behaviour leads, the SENCO, the mental health lead, the family liaison officer).
For SEND parents, the Inclusion Manager is sometimes the right escalation point above the class teacher and SENCO, particularly where the issue cuts across SEND, behaviour, and attendance. Where the SENCO has not been able to resolve a concern, or where the issue is the school's policy rather than a specific decision about the child, the Inclusion Manager is often the next layer.
The role is also where the school's anticipatory duty under the Equality Act 2010 typically sits in operational terms. Decisions about the behaviour policy, the attendance policy, the mental health curriculum, and the staff CPD on SEND should pass through the Inclusion Manager's portfolio.
Senior Mental Health Lead training (DfE-funded, available to schools since 2021) is now widely held by Inclusion Managers and is one indicator of where a school sits on the SEMH agenda.
Related terms
The terms parents most often see alongside Inclusion Manager.
Special Educational Needs Coordinator(SENCO)
The qualified teacher in a school responsible for the day-to-day operation of the SEND policy, coordinating provision, and liaising with parents and outside professionals.
Inclusion
The principle that all children, including those with SEND, are educated alongside their peers with adjustments made to remove barriers. More than integration, it requires changing the environment, not just the child.
Social, Emotional and Mental Health(SEMH)
One of the four broad areas of SEND need. Covers difficulties with emotional regulation, mental health, attachment, and behaviour, including anxiety, withdrawal, and challenging behaviour.
Where parents ask about this
Parents usually find this page when escalating above the class teacher and SENCO, or when the issue is about school-wide policy rather than a specific case. Searches include "Inclusion Manager versus SENCO", "Inclusion Manager role school", and "Mental Health Lead school". A Beaakon advocate can identify the right person to escalate to and draft a meeting agenda with the Inclusion Manager that names the specific concerns and the policy duties at stake.
References
The primary legislation, statutory guidance, research, and clinical tools this page draws on.