Our vision for the SEND Local Offer

The Code of Practice for the Children and Families Act 2014 Part 3 was published 10 years ago.

At pop pop studio we decided to look at what the Local Offer would look like if we started from what we know today, following the principles of the Local Offer.

Placid, a new platform for the SEND Local Offer

It's 10 years since the Code of Practice was published for the Children and Families Act 2014 Part 3.

So we decided to look at what the Local Offer would look like if we started from what we know today, following the principles of the Local Offer.

4.7 The Local Offer should be

• Accessible. The published Local Offer should be easy to understand, factual and jargon free. It should be structured in a way that relates to young people's and parents' needs. It should be well signposted and well publicised.
• Collaborative. Local authorities must involve parents, children and young people in developing and reviewing the Local Offer. They must also co-operate with those providing services.
• Comprehensive. Parents and young people should know what support is expected to be available across education, health and social care from age 0 to 25 and how to access it.
• Up to date. When parents and young people access the Local Offer it is important that the information is up to date.
• Transparent. The Local Offer should be clear about how decisions are made and who is accountable and responsible for them.

SEND Code of Practice 2015, abridged

Accessible

We all know about the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, and we now have the Public Sector Bodies Accessibility Regulations 2018 (opens in a new tab). So what would we do differently? We'd give the Local Offer website

• A sense of belonging, through the look and feel of the website, including case studies
• Simple navigation and hierarchy to help people find their way around
• Familiar patterns like step by steps and guides, happily copied from GOV.UK, which was still pretty new in 2014
• Easy to read content that follows the readability guidelines

See how we're helping councils make web projects more accessible

Collaborative

With over 150 councils in England creating a SEND Local Offer, we really should be collaborating. Sharing best practice, doing website audits, sharing directory listings. We'd love to see

• Regional conferences where we share ideas, share best practice, and share the love we have for the SEND Local Offer
• The SEND Local Offer being the centre of the SEND and inclusion strategy, well resourced and well marketed
• The ability to share directory listings across different councils, a personal vision: a nationwide directory where each council pulls in the listings they want

See how we're helping councils make web projects more collaborative

Comprehensive

The Code of Practice 2014 Chapter 4, The Local Offer, uses the word "must" 63 times, and "should" 66 times. Some of those are repeated in the same bullet point, of course.

But there are about 128 actionable items in the Local Offer, which must, or should, or comprehensively could be in the information pages.

As for the directory, we've already mentioned we'd like to see more collaboration here so we can build a more comprehensive list.

See how we're helping councils make web projects more comprehensive

Transparent

Being open about eligibility for services, waiting times, and expectations really works. Parent carers feel more agency if they know what's going on.

But we can also share success stories, and maybe failures too, through case studies and people profiles. The SEND Local Offer shouldn't be dry and boring. It should be vibrant, and reflect and represent our young people with SEND, their parent carers, and the professionals who work with them.

See how we're helping councils make web projects more transparent

Up to date

Tech. We've already mentioned using components copied from GOV.UK. But now we have LocalGov Drupal, a consortium of councils and companies working together to make it easier and cheaper to create websites and directories. pop pop studio is leading the work for a new SEND Local Offer that will be available for all councils to use, with open source code.

Content. We also think the job of the SEND Partnership Officer is to be out and about in schools, family hubs, and supermarkets, promoting and co-producing the Local Offer. So we offer a content service to free up your time, and keep your content fresh.

See how we're helping councils make web projects more up to date