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- Local Offer Annual Report 2020 - 2021
Local Offer Annual Report 2020 - 2021
The Special Educational Needs and / or Disabilities Local Offer is a legal requirement. It tells you things and helps children and young people aged 0-25.
Every Local Authority must give what help they expect to be available in their local area.
Lots of different people contribute to the Local Offer. These can be from education, health care, social care or be parents or young people.
You can find out more details about the Local Offer on the website.
The Local Offer service is provided on behalf of Wakefield Council by Wakefield Early Support, Advice Information Liaison service (WESAIL) Barnardo’s.
This report is an overview of the Local Offer from 1st April 2020 – 31st March 2021.
In Wakefield, the Local Offer Lead helps to put the information that goes on the website, Facebook and in the newsletter. They work part time and started in June 2020.
Before this there were a few months when there was no Local Offer Lead. However, the WESAIL service ensured the Local Offer website was updated as and when needed, especially with relevant updates around Coronavirus. A Local Offer Newsletter was also produced and sent out in this time.
These are the things that we have improved this year:
- Rolling programme of updates in place for the website
- Use of photosymbols to enable ease of use
- Beginning to develop easy read information
- Variety of topics and signposting on Facebook and in Newsletter
- Addition of metatags (search words) and logos to allow information to be found more easily
- Gaining and using feedback to improve the Local Offer
- Participation in regional forums to share best practice
The Local Offer website has had 36,821 visits from April 2020 to March 2021.
The number of pages viewed this year was 96,008.
The number of new users on the website was 27,311.
The most popular searches on the website are:
- Autism
- Dyslexia
The most viewed pages were:
“There is so much info there. I navigated with C in mind and found relevant info for all the areas he needs support for.”
“Common Concerns section is a good idea.”
“It was straightforward, easy to fill in.”
“Fantastic website and easy to use.”
“Easy to navigate. Page looks fine. All information I needed was here.”
“Brilliant website thank you.”
“This is all amazing- it is so reassuring to know this [information] is available to us.”
“Thanks for your reply, I really appreciate your help.”
“Been such a big help am very grateful thank you so much.”
The Local Offer newsletter is called News & Views. It goes out three times a year. It has information on services, support, conditions, advice and things to do.
Due to the Covid pandemic, the Summer 2020 newsletter was not sent out as a hard copy. It was emailed to those registered on the Information Network and was put on the Local Offer website.
The Autumn 2020 and Spring 2021 newsletters were sent out both through the post and via email. It is also signposted on Facebook and put on the Local Offer website.
There are around 1,000 families that receive the newsletter in this way. The newsletter is also sent out to professionals, is signposted on our Facebook page and is available to download on the Local Offer website.
Each newsletter has articles on different ages groups and topics as requested by users to meet their needs.
The feedback from surveys on the newsletter has been very positive, with the majority of people saying they find the articles useful or interesting.
What have people said about the newsletter?
“Your excellent summer newsletter must be a great asset for the community you serve”
“Thank you for sharing this. The breath of articles is really inspiring and it will be very useful for so many different stakeholders.”
“I have just received and really enjoyed reading your informative local offer newsletter.”
“Thanks so much for sending this through and for letting us be included - it looks great!”
We have used surveys to find out what people want in future newsletters. They said they would like articles on:
Young people
Parent / Carer support
Early Years
Mental Health
Information on services
The Local Offer Facebook page went from 883 to 996 likes this year
The number of page followers grew from 901 to 1,019 this year.
The most popular posts have been:
- Help at the Hubs
- CAMHS
- New Barnardo’s SENDIASS website
- Y6 transition booklet
- Free e-book on bubbles
- Government guidance on EHCPS
- Complex Care needs teams
- SENART contact
The Local Offer Facebook page continues to post a wide range of topics. These can be about support, information or events.
What have people said about Facebook?
“Brill any help would be great.”
“Thank you so much.”
Read our You Said We Did for 2020 - 2021
An audit is where another service, professional or group look at some information and say what is good about it. They can also say what needs improving.
They might use a survey or report to help them do the audit.
We have conducted mystery shops to help audit the Local Offer.
A mystery shop is where someone is asked to find specific information. They then say how easy or hard it was to do that.
The mystery shoppers we asked felt that the information on the assessment journey process was clear and easy to read. However, they also felt that the information on Post-16 options was not accessible for young people themselves.
Wakefield Parent Carer Forum (WPCF) ran a survey in November which was mostly positive.
We were also audited by another Local Authority in November 2020.
The main positive things they found were:
- Assessment and Education Health Care Plan information is clear
- In-area education easy to find
- Personal budget information easy to find
- Information Advice Services information is comprehensive
- Preparation for Adulthood section is full with lots of information and links
- The website has comprehensive information
The main things to develop are:
- Ensure health information on continuing or adult care is easy to find
- Further information on transitions / transfer between phases of education
- Make it clear what the Local Authority expects educational settings to offer
- Make it clear how other people have been involved in developing the Local Offer
The Local Offer has been highlighted as one of the key priorities for Wakefield Council in the SEND Strategy for 2020-2024. The aims are to:
“…reduce gaps in services by strengthening joint commissioning. Improve communication with key partners, children, young people and their families and ensure clarity of the support available.”
To build on the positives from this year the SEND Local Offer will be:
Even better if… We increase our joint working with children, young people, parents and carers. This is also called coproduction. We will do this by working with Kid Squad (the SEND Young People’s Advisory Group), Wakefield Parent Carer Forum and Wakefield Awareness Support Project. We will also work with our Local Offer Champions.
Even better if… Services are encouraged to keep their information up to date. We will do this through our Local Offer Champions and Local Offer Together meetings.
Even better if… We develop more easy read and accessible information on the Local Offer. We will do this by working with a newly-appointed Workshop and Accessibilities Coordinator and attending accessibility training. We will also use audits completed by parents, carers, children, young people, professionals and Local Offer Together meetings.
CAMHS – Children and Adolescent Mental Health Service
EHCP – Educational Health Care Plan
IN – Information Network
LO – Local Offer
SENART – Special Educational Needs Assessment Review Team
SEND – Special Educational Needs and / or Disability
SENDIASS – Special Educational Needs and / or Disabilities Information Advice Support Services
WASP – Wakefield Awareness Support Project
WESAIL – Wakefield Early Support, Advice and Information Liaison Service
WPCF – Wakefield Parent Carer Forum