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Local Offer Annual Report 2025

Read the Local Offers Annual report for 2025

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View the Local Offer's Annual Report here [External Link] or read below:

SEND Local Offer:

The Local Offer is a statutory requirement of every Local Authority. This means that every Local Authority must publish a Local Offer by law. The Local Offer should act as a central point for young people with SEND and their families. It aims to provide advice and information about local services for young people with SEND in one place. The SEND Code of Practice states that the Local Offer has two main purposes. These are:

  • To provide clear, comprehensive and accessible information about services available.

  • To ensure local services involve and listen to young people with SEND and their families in the area. This includes when reviewing and developing their service.

You can find information on a wide range of topics on the Local Offer. These include social care, health, education and leisure services, among others. It outlines what these services are expected to offer young people under the age of 25 who have SEND. This includes young people who do not have an Education, Health and Care Plan. It also outlines how you can access these services. Since 2014, the local offer has been developed with parents, carers, young people and professionals. This input helps to keep information up to date and relevant to you and your needs.

Local Authorities must publish the feedback they receive on the Local Offer. They must show how this feedback is being used to develop what is offered in the Local area.

Finding the Local Offer:

You can find the SEND Local Offer on the Sutton Information Hub. This hub brings together the services in the local areas in the 'service directory'. Within this directory you can find the services that fit your interests.

This could include support organisations or leisure activities among other things. You can also find a wide range of information on topics such as education and independence. Organisations can register and add their own services to the directory. They are encouraged to take ownership of this to ensure all information is up to date.

Data:

Data reported from 1st April 2024 - 30th September 2024 shows we had 2158 total users on the landing page on Sutton Information Hub.

This data reveals the specific pages that users are exploring on the Local Offer platform. By understanding these preferences, we can gain valuable insights into the community's needs and interests, enabling us to develop tailored resources and initiatives that truly resonate with them.

The most popular sections of the website provide valuable insights into what information users are seeking. This understanding has significantly shaped our approach to the website update, guiding us in designing a layout that prioritises the content that matters most to our audience.

The Local Offer will use this data to enhance and refine the website. By focusing on the areas of greatest interest, we will ensure that users find the information they seek more easily and efficiently. Additionally, this insight will help us identify sections that require more promotion, allowing us to reach a broader audience and better meet the needs of our community.

Feedback:

You can give your feedback on the Local Offer in a range of ways, both online or in person. Some ways that this can be done include:

As a result. Once there is an update, feedback is displayed on the You Said, We did page. Feedback is also passed on to services or organisations if relevant, so that they can also take action. For more information please visit our You Said, We Did page.

Engagement with Parents:

In November 2024, the Local Offer made significant strides in engaging with our community on Facebook. This increased interaction has heightened awareness among parents about the various resources, events, and groups available in our area. To further enhance our engagement, we distributed a feedback form, allowing parents to express their needs and expectations regarding the Local Offer.

The insights we gathered highlighted both the strengths of our services and areas for improvement. A key concern was the user-friendliness of our website. Taking this feedback to heart, we revamped the website in March 2025, ensuring it is now more accessible and easier to navigate for all users.

We have seen a significant boost in engagement thanks to several key initiatives. By increasing our social media posts and actively visiting schools, we’ve empowered SENCOs to effectively promote the Local Offer to parents. Additionally, incorporating the Local Offer into communications from the London Borough of Sutton and Cognus has broadened our reach. Our participation in the PfA Day and collaboration with SIASS have further strengthened our connections within the local community, enhancing our overall engagement efforts.

We use Facebook as an effective platform to promote the Local Offer, providing parents and young people with an opportunity to ask questions related to our posts. This interactive approach facilitates quick access to information and encourages community engagement. Additionally, members of the group can tag others, helping to expand the reach of our posts and ensure that more people benefit from the resources we share.

The Local offer facebook group has 866 members as 7th March 2025. This is a 47.5% increase from 7th December 2024. Members are able to request posting content and the local offer coordinator can also post. this allows posts to be varied and helps to raise awareness of different services and allows more people to share information.

This also allows members of the group to be aware of new opportunities and events in the local area. Over the last few months these opportunities have included:

  • stay and play sessions

  • youth board commisioners meeting

  • autsim surgeries

  • xmas disco

  • pamper sessions

Members of the Local Offer Facebook group receive notifications about events happening in the local area. This keeps everyone informed about current activities and encourages valuable feedback on the events that members are most interested in participating in.

The Local Offer aims to integrate seamlessly into the community while fostering strong partnerships with parents. To kickstart this initiative, we've begun hosting coffee mornings in schools and are exploring opportunities to set up a welcoming space in a community centre for parents to connect and engage.

We've received valuable feedback from parents, which has highlighted several key themes that we are diligently addressing. A common concern is that much of the content has been perceived as complicated or outdated. In response, we have been actively updating our content since November 2024 to ensure it remains relevant and accessible. Our goal is to maintain a readability grade of 9 or below, making our information easy to understand for everyone.

Additionally, parents have expressed that the wealth of information on our website can be overwhelming. To enhance accessibility, we are developing engaging videos that will be embedded on the site, allowing users to absorb information more easily.

Furthermore, navigating the website has been a challenge for many users. To improve this experience, our upcoming website update will include a search bar on every page, simplifying the process of finding specific information. We now have a search bar on the Local Offer, making it easier to navigate and access the information you need. We are committed to creating a user-friendly platform that meets the needs of our community. Thank you for your continued support and feedback as we work to enhance our services.

Engagement with Professionals and Schools:

As previously mentioned, many users have reported that navigating the directory can be challenging. Additionally, there are concerns that the information on directory pages may not always be up to date, making it difficult to find accurate details about the listed services. To address this, we are encouraging schools and services to take greater ownership of their respective pages, ensuring that all information is current and reliable.

We have proactively reached out to all schools and services featured in our Local Offer to ensure they have access to their pages. To facilitate ongoing updates, we send reminder notifications every six months, reinforcing the importance of keeping information accurate. Our recent updates to the Local Offer website also aim to enhance navigation, making it easier and more accessible for users.

We are committed to working collaboratively with professionals to promote the Local Offer within schools and services. The Local Offer Coordinator has collborated with SIASS on coffee morning planning which will go ahead after Easter. The Local Offer Coordinator attended SENCO Cluster and SLT Leadership meetings which have provided valuable opportunities to share expectations and explore collaborative efforts with other professionals. This initiative will increase awareness within the community about the resources available, ultimately expanding the range of services listed.

At the Preparation for Adulthood event in November, the Local Offer successfully engaged with various services, resulting in new registrations that will enhance opportunities for young people in the area.

The Local Offer Coordinator collaborated with Amalia Banon, Head of SEND, to create informative videos for the Local Offer. These videos will provide clear information on different SEN topics. You can view the videos here: Sutton Local Offer Videos

By the end of March 2025, we anticipate having visited 55% of the schools in our local area, with a goal of reaching all or most schools by the end of 2025. This outreach will foster better collaboration and provide us with deeper insights into SEN provisions, ultimately benefiting our community.

Engagement with Young People:

We participated in the Youth Board Commissioners meeting to gain valuable insights into what young people in Sutton are seeking. This collaboration allowed both professionals and the Local Offer team to consider potential changes that could better meet the needs of the community.

We are currently partnering with Sutton Council and their social media platforms to promote the Local Offer. This initiative will help young people engaged with those channels discover our resources and easily reach out to us.

To enhance our branding, we have collaborated with Advocacy for All to develop our Local Offer logo. We invited young people to draw their visions and desires for Sutton, and these creations will be transformed into logo options for them to choose from.

Additionally, the Local Offer was present at the Preparation for Adulthood event in November, where we connected directly with young people to understand their expectations and preferences for our services. The Local Offer had a joint stall with Sutton Virtual school where we gathered feedback from young people whilst engaging with them through badge making and bracelet making activities. This ongoing engagement is crucial as we strive to create a Local Offer that truly reflects the voices of the community.

Promotion:

We have been actively promoting the Local Offer by visiting various schools and services in the area to discuss its benefits and features. To further raise awareness about the website's launch, we will be hosting coffee mornings and an online recorded webinar session. These initiatives aim to provide a better understanding of how to navigate and utilize the website effectively. Our Coffee Morning sessions will begin in May and will take place at different schools.

We have been internally promoting the local offer within Cognus to ensure other professionals are also signposting the local offer where needed. this has raised more awareness within Cognus and has allowed the local offer coordinator to attend different meetings to ensure the local offer has up to date and relevent information.

The local offer coordinator will also be encouraging schools to be signposting the local offer on their websites. this allows parents to be informed of it.

We created local offer flyers which have been sent to schools, put in local areas e.g. libraries and will also be given out at events e.g. coffee mornings. the flyer will allow people to access the website through a QR code and gives information on finding our Facebook page and email address.

You Said, We Did:

The local offer must publish all feedback it receives. it must also publish the actions that have been taken as a result of this.

To view feedback received by Sutton's local offer, visit our You said, we did page.