Working together to improve the Local Offer
We want to improve our Local Offer and respond to the needs of families.
We will improve our Local Offer by working with parent carers and young people with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) in West Sussex.
During the first three months since the new website launched in May 2024, parents, carers and practitioners told us that they wanted:
- information that is easy to search and find on the Local Offer website
- up-to-date information that accurately describes services
- a full range of information, in accordance with the SEND Code of Practice (2014)
- easy ways to feedback and know that comments are listened to and acted upon
How we will work together to improve the Local Offer
On 30 September 2024, we held the first Local Offer Steering Group, which will meet six times a year, to improve the Local Offer service and act on feedback from parents, carers and young people.
We will report back on this page after each meeting so that you know what we are working on and the reasons for this.
Where we find gaps in information or services, we will feed this back to people who make decisions about which services to pay for.
West Sussex Parent Carer Forum is invited to represent parent carers and West Sussex Young Voices will represent children and young people with a range of special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND).
If you are a young person (up to the age of 25) with SEND, who is interested in getting your voice heard and improving services across West Sussex, please contact West Sussex Young Voices.
Local Offer Steering Group notes
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Website content
Preparation for adulthood continues to be an area of focus to develop content for the webpages, particularly in the areas of participating in the community and finding accommodation.
Transitions between different phases of education are also a focus for information.
A news and events page is currently being developed.
Local Offer website
The homepage redesign is due to go live by the end of March, to make it clearer that the site is made of two parts, the information pages and the services directory pages.
The Local Offer logo will now include the words ‘SEND’ and ‘West Sussex’, to make its purpose clearer to people. We will look into adding a graphic to the logo to support this further.
Publicising Local Offer services and website
We have closed the Twitter ‘X’ site for Local Offer and will continue to focus on the Facebook page to support Local Offer in sharing information and details of local events.
We have published ‘You asked…we did’ information to show how we are responding to feedback and requests from families and practitioners. This will continue to be developed and can be viewed on this webpage.
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Also see notes on continuing areas for website development from the meeting on 30 September 2024.
Website content
West Sussex Parent Carer Forum will participate in developing information for the ‘Preparing for Adulthood’ employment web pages.
‘Accommodation’ and ‘Volunteering’ areas of the website are also identified gaps to be addressed.
Content is currently being prepared for the ‘Health’ area of the website to give guidance in oral health and dentistry.Local Offer website
We continue to work to improve the search function of the website and we will be considering a homepage redesign early in 2025 to make it clearer that the site is made of two parts; the information pages and the services directory pages.
Investigations into the possibility of publishing an events and news section for the website continue.
Publicising Local Offer services and website
It was noted that there is a lot of information about SEND for parents, but that it is not always easy to navigate and can become overwhelming.
Not everyone has heard of the Local Offer or SEND Information, Advice and Support Service (SENDIAS) so we need to do more work both to develop suitable and useful content and to make sure that people know how to access it.
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Action points from the meeting to be followed up and published on the Local Offer website.
Education pages
- How are children with SEND, who are looked after by the local authority, supported?
- How do education providers get the services and equipment required, such as ancillary aids and assistive technology, including Augmentative and Alternative Communication?
- How do education providers support children moving between phases of education and preparing for adulthood and independent living?
- How is education and training provision for those with SEND assessed and evaluated?
- How do local settings work together to support those with SEND?
Education, Health and Care Plan pages
- What services across education, health and social care lend themselves to the use of Personal Budgets?
- Information about controlling funding through direct payments and third-party arrangements.
- Clear and simple statements setting out eligibility criteria for personal budgets and the decision-making processes that underpin them.
Preparing for adulthood - Employment pages
- How can employment services, such as job coaches, support in finding employment?
- How to get specialist advice on Work Choice, Residential Training and The Work Programme.
- How are children from year 8 to helped to plan their careers, including signposting to where they can obtain information and advice about setting up their own enterprise.
Preparing for adulthood - Housing, safety and community life pages
- What volunteering opportunities are there and is there support to access them?
- Support in using the internet and social media to find information and develop and maintain friendships, including where they can go for guidance on using the internet safely and how to protect themselves against cyber-bullying and exploitation.
- Information about finding accommodation, including information about different housing options such as social housing, housing association accommodation, private renting, shared housing and shared ownership.
- What support is available to help people personally, for example in managing their Personal Budget or recruiting a personal assistant?
- What support is there to learn the skills needed to live in supported, semi-supported or independent accommodation?
Health
- How do GPs, health visitors, dentists and hospitals make their services accessible to those with SEND?
- Information about wheelchair services and community equipment, children’s community nursing, continence services.
- Information about emergency health and Social Care provision.
Local Offer website
We are currently working to improve and create:
- a search function across the whole Local Offer website
- an events diary to help families be informed about what’s going on in and around West Sussex
- easy-print versions of information for those not able to access the information online.
Thank you to the West Sussex Parent Carer Forum for giving us feedback on the experiences of families using the website. We will keep you updated.
Meeting families, voluntary groups and young people around West Sussex
We publicise the Local Offer at networking events and we also visit groups and organisations to share what we have done so far and ask for feedback. If you are interested in hosting a Local Offer information and feedback session, email localoffer@westsussex.gov.uk
We will visit Family Hubs, local groups and events and Young Voices meetings to get feedback from different groups of people over the course of the next year.
You asked, we did - Improvements to the Local Offer and its website after receiving feedback
Here are improvements that you have asked us to make and how we have responded. You may have told us:
- when talking to us during events
- by phone on 01243 777807, asking for Local Offer
- by using the online feedback form
- by email at localoffer@westsussex.gov.uk
We welcome all comments about Local Offer services and the Local Offer website, so please share your thoughts with us to help us improve by using the feedback link at the bottom of this page.
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Your calls to the Local Offer phoneline were not always being answered straight away and not everyone was leaving a message so that we could call you back.
We moved the Local Offer phoneline to the customer service centre at the beginning of February, so that everyone calling between 8am and 6pm, Monday to Friday should be able to speak to someone, without having to leave a recorded message.
You said that it was difficult to find the directory from the Local Offer homepage. We rearranged the website homepage in March so that the directory is more visible and we are continuing to improve the search function on the website.
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You asked for an easy way to give feedback about pages on the website. We set up the feedback form on every Local Offer page.
You asked for more information about the Portage Service and for it to be easy to find. We published new Portage webpage linking from the Early Years and Childcare section of the website. Portage also now appears prominently on the website search.
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You asked for information and support when waiting for health assessments. We published support while you wait for an assessment with our NHS and West Sussex Parent Carer Forum partners. This page continues to develop, so please let us know your thoughts and suggestions.