Local Offer Annual Report September 2016 This Local Offer Annual Report provides details on the development and review of Newcastle s Local Offer since it was first launched as part of the September 2014 SEND Reforms. It includes information about: progress with developing the Local Offer, website re-design, content and statistics, alternative provision for those who do not have internet access, consultation, comments and feedback, and marketing and publicity. 1. Background Newcastle s Local Offer is an information resource for children and young people with Special Educational Needs or Disabilities (SEND) aged 0 to 25 years and their families. Here they can find all of the information, advice and guidance they need. It is available online at www.newcastle.gov.uk/localoffer and at www.newcastlesupportdirectory.org.uk. It is also a useful resource for professionals working with families. Newcastle s Local Offer complies with the requirements set out in the SEND Code of Practice January 2015 (see extract in Appendix 1). 2. From September 2014: The Newcastle Solution www.newcastlefis.org.uk In September 2014 Newcastle launched its revised Local Offer (see picture) at www.newcastlefis.org.uk. This website was developed in consultation with families, young people and professionals. However, the look and feel of the website was based on a design which had remained in place since the website began as a childcare provision site several years earlier, and then became the Families Information Service (which no longer exists within the council). It needed to be mobile-friendly, with improved search results, tagging and categorisation. It needed to appeal to users through better structure, navigation and a modern and eyecatching look and feel to the design.
3. Current position: New SEND Local Offer website www.newcastle.gov.uk/localoffer Early in 2016, consultation took place with children and young people with SEND, their families and professionals working with the families, and a new look and feel was agreed and developed. The new domain name for it is www.newcastle.gov.uk/localoffer. This SEND Local Offer is also included in a wider website which includes information, advice and services aimed at Adults and Families too, called www.newcastlesupportdirectory.org.uk. During consultation, and in ongoing marketing, we continue to raise people s awareness of Newcastle s Local Offer. Information, advice and guidance is presented in one place, in a simple format and an easy to navigate framework. Better use of search filters, categorisation and tagging gives better, more streamlined search results. The views of children and young people, parents and carers and a network of professionals working with families have contributed towards the development of the website. They have looked at how up to date the content is, how easy it is to use and what is missing from the Local Offer. Consultees said it should be child-friendly with information in short bursts which would be easier to understand, with less text and more pictures and videos. For example, the following comments were taken on board: Web content comments and actions taken: Local Offer home page to be more visual and fun. Have more bright, happy photos to scroll across the carousel. Search function could be bigger and more obvious Improve tagging for example, Autism/ASD should be interchangeable. The overall look and feel is lighter and brighter and there s a news carousel at the top of the page that frequently changes, whilst remaining accessible for all. Photos included of children and young people having fun The search function is bigger and more obvious, and has been given a higher profile at the very top of the page. Tagging is being improved whilst reviewing existing content.
Further suggestions are being taken forward, such as the inclusion of videos being popular with young people. The council s Digital Team will therefore look to include a video on How to access/use the Local Offer in their partnership working with media students from Northumbria University. A feedback button is prominently situated on the home page of this new web design. It is expected that submissions of feedback via this e-form will increase as we continue to raise awareness of the Local Offer. On a positive note, those feedback forms that we have received show that the Local Offer is easy to use. Contributions to the Local Offer content are meaningful and with sufficient detail to describe the offer, rather than simply signposting another external website location. Contributions are maintained principally by organisations uploading and managing their own information. Feedback has been given to some contributors on how to improve their Local Offer entry, demonstrating how their service is specifically designed for or can be adapted to meet the needs of children and young people with SEND. The Local Offer website is co-owned and shared by a trained network of Local Offer Champions, many of whom are key professionals working with families, and/or a member of the SENDIASS (Special Educational Needs or Disabiities Information, Advice and Support Service) Network. SENDIASS Network aims to offer families the information, advice and support they need at the right time and from the right organisation. To do this they will: Monitor the range and quality information, advice and support services available under the Local Offer; Share best practice and developments; and Report and review performance data (including user satisfaction). 4. Content The Local Offer aims to bring together all information on Education, Health, Social Care and services families would find useful. Newcastle s Local Offer includes the information required by the Children and Families Act 2014 and Equality Act 2010 legislation. The categories of information, advice and guidance on offer were revised after feedback from consultees, and are now shown below.
We have taken steps to ensure that 99.86% of all entries on the website have been reviewed within the last year. This includes deleting outdated entries, creating new content where there was a gap in service, and updating or refreshing all other entries in partnership with contributors to ensure that information is current comprehensive and accessible and includes a logo, photograph or video. In the last annual report, it was noted that Planning for Adulthood, Transport and Managing your Money were areas that particularly needed work to expand the offer. We worked together with: the Planning for Adulthood Workstream and its Employment Sub Group, SENDIASS, Children with Disabilities Team, Youth Offending Team and SEN Transport staff, SENDIASS Network; SENCo Forum; SEN Managers, and Education settings including Newcastle College, Walker Technology College, Sir Charles Parsons School and Sacred Heart High School. We are working with the Clinical Commissioning Group to improve the range and quality of Health information provided. The Planning for Adulthood section has been improved in terms of the volume of services on offer. We continue to work with the Employment Sub Group to improve this offer. The Transport category returns less results than most categories, but still offers a comprehensive range of information on ways to get around by bus, metro, rail, ferry, air, and taxi, plus travel passes, driving and parking. Managing your Money category has been expanded to include debt advice, welfare rights advice, fuel poverty; energy efficiency measures; loan sharks; credit unions and grants. In the Childcare section, the information is comprehensive, but could be improved by more childcare providers detailing their specific support available for children with SEND. 5. Website statistics The updated SEND Local Offer web design was launched on 4 July 2016. A snapshot of statistics was taken on 21 September 2016 as follows: 9,840 page views from 4.7.16 to 21.9.16 3,280 page views on average per calendar month The top five most popular categories viewed were: Holiday activities Activities and short breaks Education and Employment Childcare Planning for Adulthood
6. Alternative format provision and publicity materials Newcastle s alternative format provision, for those who do not have access to the internet, has been developed in collaboration with the Parent Carer Forum, children and young people with SEND, Clinical Commissioning Group partners and members of the SENDIASS Network. A Local Offer leaflet aimed at the families of children and young people with SEND and professionals working with families has been drafted and will shortly be printed and distributed. During consultation about the leaflet s look and feel and content, it was established that young people would prefer to have their own leaflet which was specifically designed to appeal to young people, and with content about young people s issues. Local Offer leaflets comments and actions taken: Have an explanation of what this leaflet is about/for on the front page. Give higher profile to Parent Voice organisations by including separate entries and their social media contacts. Need a separate leaflet for young people, specifically designed for them. Use a graffiti style design to appeal to young people. Explanation moved up to the front page from page 2. Separate entries given to both Parent Carer Forum and Pass It On Parents, with own social media/website contacts. A separate Young Person s Local Offer leaflet produced. Title on front page was laid out using graffiti-style spray paint effect. The organisations which were included in the adults leaflet are mainly members of the SENDIASS Network. They have agreed to take on the role of signposting people to ensure the right information, advice and support is provided at the right time to meet the needs of children and young people with SEND and their families. Each member organisation of the SENDIASS Network has agreed to put at least one person through an e-learning module which is being developed for training or refresher purposes for Local Offer Champions. The aim is to make this e-learning externally available for anyone to access. There are further plans for a Local Offer information postcard to be included in other mailings to families, posters in key locations and stretch banners to raise awareness about Newcastle s Local Offer. Staff will attend meetings such as the SENCo Forum and Parent Carer Conference to continue to raise awareness of the Local Offer. 7. Consultation Early this year, Let s Talk Newcastle, the council s online consultation tool, hosted two surveys regarding the Local Offer aimed at children and young people with SEND, their parents and carers and professionals working with families. This was to find out what respondents valued from the current content, to identify any gaps in provision and to
comment on the look, feel, layout and functionality of the Local Offer website. It also served to raise awareness of the feedback mechanism available. The Parent Voice organisations, including the Parent Carer Forum and Pass It On Parents, were consulted during development of the new SEND Local Offer website. We asked what if anything they felt was missing from the Local Offer, and for comments and agreement on providing a draft Local Offer leaflet to help raise awareness of what the Local Offer is and how to access it. The Forum was very supportive of Local Offer Champions being trained and able to offer guidance to families on what is available through the Local Offer. The SENDIASS Network agreed to assist in developing the Local Offer, raising awareness about the Local Offer and training their staff to assist people who needed help to access the Local Offer. Children and young people themselves assisted by undertaking a website critique and were offered the opportunity to design a flyer or make a video informing others how to access the Local Offer. Young people worked together with an externally commissioned company to design a new logo for the Local Offer (see Appendix 2) and contributed to discussions about what they would like to see on a young person s version of the Local Offer. SENCos were consulted about the Local Offer, how to raise awareness and participation amongst children and young people with SEND and their families, and in particular, those in mainstream education. 8. Consulting and shaping services with Commissioning The Council has been working with Parents and Carers, other North East Regional Local Authorities, Providers and Health commissioners to reshape the commissioning of our specialist education offer in non-maintained and independent schools and colleges. This joint working has also seen the development of a joint funding agreement (Section 75 Agreement) between the Council and the Clinical Commissioning Group for services in these settings. We will continue to identify opportunities for developing joint working and integrated funding for future commissioning activity ensuring an appropriate level of involvement of Children, Young People and other service users.
9. Next Steps Next steps are to continue improving participation and feedback with regard to developing Newcastle s Local Offer. We aim to progress this with: Ongoing collaboration with Parent Voice organisations, Clinical Commissioning Group and the SENDIASS Network, Children North East (who are commissioned for youth participation work), SENCos targeting children and young people with SEND in mainstream education, and Awareness raising with a range of community groups such as Deaflink and Newcastle Society for Blind People, particularly where there is a group for young people within the organisation. Suggestions for additional breadth and depth of content will be taken forward, alongside requests for additional functionality, such as after submitting feedback, young people could be offered the opportunity to vote in a poll. We will continue to bring key people together to drive continuous improvement for this valuable and useful resource. Contact: School Admissions and Information Service Email: localoffer@newcastle.gov.uk Phone: 0191 211 5055
Appendix 1 Extract from SEND Code of Practice January 2015 Publishing comments about the Local Offer 4.21 Local authorities must publish comments about their Local Offer received from or on behalf of children with SEN or disabilities and their parents and young people with SEN or disabilities. 4.22 Comments must be published if they relate to: the content of the Local Offer, which includes the quality of existing provision and any gaps in the provision the accessibility of information in the Local Offer how the Local Offer has been developed or reviewed 4.23 It is up to local authorities to decide on the format for publishing comments but they should consult children and young people with SEN or disabilities and parents and representative organisations such as Parent Carer Forums and local organisations providing information, advice and support to parents, children and young people about this, including the local authority s Information, Advice and Support Service. They should make clear how they have sought comments about the Local Offer. 4.24 Local authorities must publish a summary of comments at least annually, although this is expected to be an ongoing process. They must ensure that comments are published in a form that does not enable any individual to be identified. 4.25 Local authorities are not expected to publish responses to every comment individually but could, for example, adopt a you said, we did approach. They are not required to publish abusive or vexatious comments or complaints about the service provided to an individual since there are established routes to bring such complaints. The Local Offer should make clear what these routes are and how to access them. Taking action in response to comments about the Local Offer 4.26 Local authorities must publish their response to comments received within the Local Offer and this must include details of the action they intend to take. They should consult children and young people with SEN or disabilities and the parents of children with SEN or disabilities in relation to the action they intend to take. 4.27 Where appropriate, local authorities should also feed back comments to commissioners of services and the services themselves, including those in neighbouring local authorities. Comments should be used to inform commissioning decisions and decisions about the specific nature and type of provision that local families want. 4.28 Local authorities should ensure they have access to good quality data to inform their decisions when reviewing provision and taking action to develop their Local Offer. https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/39881 5/SEND_Code_of_Practice_January_2015.pdf
Newcastle Local Offer logo, designed by children and young people Appendix 2