What Is the Local Offer?

SEND Local Offer Annual Report September 2014 to August 2015

What is the Local Offer?

From the draft Code of Practice April 2014 “Local Authorities must publish a Local Offer, setting out in one place information about provision they expect to be available across education, health and social care for children and young people in their area who have SEN or are disabled, including those who do not have Education, Health and Care (EHC) plans. In setting out what they ‘expect to be available’, local authorities should include provision which they believe will actually be available”.

The local offer has two key purposes:  To provide clear, comprehensive and accessible information about the available provision and how to access it, and  To make provision more responsive to local needs and aspirations by directly involving disabled children and those with SEN and their parents, and disabled young people and those with SEN, and service providers in its development and review

Who is it for?  Children and young people with SEN and/or disabilities (SEND) from 0 – 25 years  Their parents and carers  Practitioners and professionals

So, what has happened so far in Southend-on-Sea? A steering group have met on 5 occasions to prepare for the changes, these meetings have included parents, children’s services, adult services, health, education and the voluntary sector.

5 consultation meetings for parents have been held across the Borough This is a summary of discussions and information taken from the completion of the parent’s survey

Question Response

How do you currently find out about local Word of mouth Services and provision? Social Worker Schools Children Centres Support Groups Lighthouse Centre Parent Partnership Service Library Pre-school advisers SNAP Clinical services Health Visitor 1 Doctor GP Portage Senco Charity Support Group Other Charity websites On-line Meetings

How would you like to find out about local Internet services and provision in the future? Email School Local Authority Regular updates and feedback Central point Social media Text service could be set-up

How would you like to see the local Information meetings during the day authority engage and consult with Surveys parents/carers regarding the SEND local More information needs to be put out in offer? the local area Information meetings during the evening Support group meeting

What will make a difference to your  A buddy system – a bank of family? volunteers  A forum is needed  Face-to-face support  Central point of contact  Early intervention  Rate and review of services provided  Telephone helpline  More after school provision which is age related, with the opportunity for parents to meet the carers and some information of their experience/qualifications  Consistency in what is available, be clear about why some families get access to service and others don’t  Consistent approach across all services  Transparency, clarity and openness to share information  Accessibility  Planning for young people leaving school needs to start earlier with involvement from the young person  Young people without a learning disability or diagnosis need more support  Statements to reflect the child’s needs  Individualised care plan – not just a assumption, because you have a particular diagnosis  Access to a computer

Do you have any suggestions about how Doctors the local offer could be child friendly and Libraries accessible? Social Media On-Line Pictorial rather than words Phone apps Whizz Kidz Carer Forum Youth Council Paper format/email and links to the web Facebook page Should be presented in an easy to read format Report format with sub headings, information needs to be thorough and not full of jargon Website with different areas very visual & interactive

How could we gain the views of young  Via schools – ask if there is a group of people? students who would be able to speak out  Ask schools to arrange a meeting, although it is important to gain individual opinions  Post 16 social worker  Work with current groups already set- up  School Councils  Youth Councils  Social Media Sites  A simple engaging publication would be helpful  Facebook page

How would you most like to access the Email SEND Local Offer Phone On-line – where you could download information for future use

3 Paper copies

If you could sum up the 3 main things the Transparent local offer needs to be, what would you Accessible say? Consistent Comprehensive Clearly presented Simple text Easy to understand Self explanatory Clear Sympathetic Flexible to suit different needs Appropriate Easy to navigate and understand Service user reviews Meaningful Clear categories

These are some of the questions also Answers: taken from the Draft Code of raised by parents: Practice (CoP) April 2014

Where do you go to get a diagnosis if your GP or Health visitor child attends a mainstream school?

How will a parent get to hear of the local Ship Directory, schools, local authority, offer? health services, social care and other parents

If you do not have a diagnosis where do Local Offer: parents and young people parents/carers go for information/support? should know what support is expected to be available across education, health and social care from age 0 -25 and how to access it. The local Offer must include eligibility criteria for services where relevant and make it clear where to go for information, advice and support, as well as how to make complaints about provision or appeal against decisions (CoP 4.7)

Continual healthcare needs – healthcare Building on the Joint Strategic Needs assessment needs to be clear what this is Assessment the Local Offer must include and who is eligible? information about provision made by health professionals for children and young people with SEN or Disabilities. (there is more information regarding the actual services included under CoP 4.40)

Clarity on personal budgets – needs to be Local Authorities must provide information detailed information on Personal Budgets as part of the Local Offer. This should include a policy on Personal Budgets that sets out a description of the services across education, health and social care that currently lend themselves to the us of Personal Budgets, how that funding will be made available, and clear and simple statements of eligibility criteria and the decision making processes. ( CoP 9.93)

Information required on post 18 – clarity as Local authorities must set out in the Local to what is available Offer the support available to help children and young people with SEN or disabilities move into adulthood. Support should reflect evidence of what works and finding employments, finding somewhere to live, and participating in the community. (CoP 4.52)

Transparency with transport arrangements – Transport can be an important factor in the costs involved support for children and young people with SEN and disabilities. The Local Offer must include information about arrangements for transport provision, including for those up to the age of 25 with an EHC plan, and this should include local authorities’ policy statements. (CoP 4.48)

Respite Local Authorities must provide a range of short breaks for disabled children, young people and their families, and prepare a short breaks duty statement giving details of the local range of services and how they can be accessed, including any eligibility criteria (The Breaks for Carers of Disabled Children Regulations 2011). Local authorities must publish a short breaks statement on their website and review it on a regular basis, taking account of the needs of local parents and carers. The statement will therefore form a core part of the Local Offer. (CoP 4.44)

One place in school for information Schools have additional duties under the Special Needs and Disability Regulation 2014. Schools must publish more detailed information about their arrangements for indentifying, assessing and making provision for pupils with SEN. (CoP 4.33)

Voice of the child with SEND Local authorities must involve children with SEN or disabilities and their parents and young people with SEND. (CoP 4.8)

What help should my child’s Local authorities and their partner bodies setting/school/college be providing and agencies must cooperate with each other in the development and review of the 5 Local Offer. This is essential so that the Local Offer provides a comprehensive, transparent and accessible picture of the range of services available. (CoP 4.13)

What special expertise will the people who Every school is required to meet the SEN of work with my child have? the children or young people that they support. Mainstream schools (which in this chapter includes maintained schools and academies that are not special schools, maintained nursery schools, 16 to 19 academies, alternative provision academies and Pupil Referral Units) must:  Designate a teacher to be responsible for co-ordinating SEN provision (the SEN co-ordinator, or SENCO) (CoP 6.2)

In Southend we have a directory called SHIP the SEND Local Offer will be placed here. We are currently looking at the format and would welcome any advice and suggestions you have during the development of our SEND Local Offer.

Summary of discussions around the format of SHIP:

 Liaise with Essex and Thurrock to identify the categories they might be using so we could use a generic format.

 Accessibility – changes can be made to the text size and background colour of SHIP but a suggestion was made that it could be useful to have a voice activated system.

 Gaps in service – a feedback button at the bottom of each page so people can leave comments and suggestions about services which may be missing from the local authority’s Local Offer.

 Sandcastle logos against the records which are linked to the Local Offer.

 Colour coded Sandcastles with writing or symbols

What next?  To put in place a clear plan about what schools, the local authority, health and social care need to provide as part of the Local Offer  Keep parents, carers and young people informed, with the ability to make comments and recommendations along the way  Produce Local Offer by the September 2014 which can be developed along the way  To continue with the development of SHIP Directory alongside a focus group of parents.