The Local Offer was established in 2014 when the statutory duties on local authorities to develop and publish a Local Offer were defined in the Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) Code of Practice (updated 2015). This Code of Practice describes that local authorities must set out the support they expect to be available for local children and young people with special educational needs (SEN) or disabilities.  This has to be available online and make arrangements for those without access to the internet.

Northamptonshire’s SEND Local Offer was co-produced with professionals, families, and young people to create a website that fulfils the requirement of the legislation. Leaflets and brochures are available for anyone who cannot access the internet, which are created with support from the Northamptonshire Parent Forum Group.

The Local Offer team work closely with the Information Advice and Support Service, providing up to date information about support and services.

In Northamptonshire, a magazine called SNIX has been distributed to families with disabled children (on our statutory Disabled Children’s Register) since 2004. The Local Offer team took over the production of this popular magazine in 2015 and posts out a copy each academic term. Professionals working with families can have a copy e-mailed to them by contacting the Local Offer team. Professionals report that families new to the world of disabilities and special educational needs value this colourful and informative introduction. A special school head teacher said that she always finds something that she didn’t know about and keeps articles for future reference.

An inspection of Northamptonshire County Council's local area’s effectiveness took place from 15 May 2017 to 19 May 2017 by Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission:

They said:

“The local offer is easily accessible to stakeholders. It is comprehensive, informative and straightforward to navigate, and has an active social media profile." Ofsted 2017

The website provides information about the services that are available locally for children with special educational needs and provides relevant national information such as forums and charities.  This information is held on a data base that the website is able to search. Key word searches are very successful, but it is also possible to use predefined filters and locations.

Social Media is the modern way of communicating with groups of people, and the Local Offer has various channels for that purpose as well as the more traditional website.

Young people told us that they want to know about places to go and things to do. All the commissioned youth clubs and holiday clubs are included and can also be found on the webpages (in the black bar) for ease of access.

There is information about non-commissioned activities and seasonal events to be enjoyed. When specialist books are recommended by families and professionals, these are shared on the page dedicated to Reading and Games and any opportunity to take part in local and national consultations relative to the world of SEND can be found on the Get Involved page.

The small Local Offer team (Kathy Forsdyke and Julia Smith) post on social media, keep the database and the website updated, current and relevant. They can attend staff training, meetings and events to help families and colleagues find suitable resources in Northamptonshire.

For more information please contact [email protected] or visit the website www.northamptonshire.gov.uk/localoffer

Download their leaflet from Here

For details of the Parent Carers Service please go to the dedicated PAGE