About the Local Offer
What is the Local Offer?
The Local Offer gives children and young people with special educational needs or disabilities and their families, information about what support services will be available in their area.
Every local authority must talk with children and young people with special educational needs or disabilities and their families to find out what sort of support and services are needed. There will be many different types of services that children and young people may need, including support services in school and specialist health services.
Children, young people and their families may also have ideas about what leisure activities should be available, and what services are needed to help young people move towards independence in adulthood.
Every local authority must have a Local Offer that is available online, and must make sure that people without access to the internet can also see it. The local authority must tell children and young people and their families how they can find out more about the Local Offer. The local authority will then decide what services to make available.
Every local authority must get feedback on its local offer from young people and their families. They must show what feedback they have been given and say how they are going to make improvements to the Local Offer and services.
A Local Offer should also include information about what transport services are available for children and young people with special educational needs or disabilities and if there is any help available to pay for these services.
Follow Derby's SEND Local Offer on Facebook.
You may also want to visit the Derbyshire Local Offer to see what is available across the county.
Every year we publish an annual report to give an update on how the Local Offer has developed in the past year.
Get involved, have your say
We want to know what you think of our Local Offer so that it works better for you.
Local Offer User Group
The User Group meets four times a year to discuss and approve new and revised content for the Local Offer webpages. This is in collaboration with parent carers, professionals and other representatives from related organisations. These Terms of Reference expand on the purpose of the group. We are always looking for parent carers interested in joining the group. Please email Local.Offer@derby.gov.uk to express your interest.
- User Group meeting notes 26/09/23
- User Group meeting notes 13/07/23
- User Group meeting notes 14/03/23
- User Group meeting notes 06/12/22
- User Group meeting notes 20/09/22
Derby's Local Offer is monitored at the local area co-production delivery group. This group includes representatives from parent groups and the voluntary sector, as well as representatives for agencies and services across the local area. They are responsible for making sure that the Local Offer continues to develop and reflect the experiences of young people and their families across the city. When we need to develop or update areas of the Local Offer, we will arrange small working groups or talks with champions from across local services.
Derby's Parent Carer Forum
You can make a difference by joining Derby’s Parent Carer Forum.
- Are you a parent or carer of a child or young person 0-25 years who has special educational needs and or a disability (SEND)?
- Would you like to be involved in the design, development and implementation of services for your child or young person?
- Would you be interested in how parent carer forums are involved with services locally, regionally and nationally?
Please email catherine.ratcliffe@cafamily.org.uk to express your interest.
You said, we did
We will always listen to your feedback to help us to improve the way the Local Offer works.
Autumn term feedback 2023
| You said | We did |
|---|---|
| You asked why only ADHD and autism are titled in the Understanding your child’s needs webpage | We change ADHD and autism to My child has neurodiversity |
| You found the Derby and Derbyshire Emotional Health and Wellbeing website difficult to navigate | The team responsible is reviewing how the content is displayed and considering a microsite for all neurodiverse conditions. |
|
You said to cross-reference the health pages on Derbyshire |
Health services were updated and coordinate with the Derbyshire Local Offer |
| You wanted to see a physical impairment section | We created a physical impairment section |
| You wanted your child to have the opportunity to return or start in mainstream school | We created a protocol for pupils to transition smoothly into mainstream education |
| You wanted a leaflet for parents to understand the process for possibly returning to a mainstream school setting | We added a link to the newly created Transitions leaflet for parents |
Summer term feedback 2023
| You said | We did |
|---|---|
| You wanted a parent friendly version of the transitions protocol | A leaflet was designed and shared online as part of the annual review process |
| You wanted parity across Health and Wellbeing with Derbyshire Local Offer | Any extra information was added to Derby city Health and Wellbeing |
| You wanted link with the new Family Hub agenda | Extra tiles were added along with links through to the directory |
| If you disagreed with a decision, you wanted more support information | A new Disagreement resolution webpage was created in Parent carer support |
| You wanted to see health within the What to expect during the meeting section of the annual review | A new paragraph was written about the presence of health in these annual review meetings |
| The SEND Notification form needed updating for professionals | A new form was added to Early years and 0-5 childcare |
Spring term feedback 2023
| You said | We did |
|---|---|
| You enquired about SEND specific clinics for COVID boosters and vaccinations similar to those in Leicestershire | Contacted Public Health who already have plans in action to improve the offer currently, including video and working closely with the same family |
| You wanted more resources for ‘What to do if you disagree with our decision | The support and advice directory was added to EHC assessments and plans |
| Could SEND Officers liaise better with SENCOs to disseminate information to parent carers? | Look at adding these ideas to their commission agreements |
| You provided more information and resources on visual impairment | These were shared on Facebook |
| You said the section ‘More travel support’ should be more easily seen | With newly constructed webpages, ‘More travel support’ was retitled ‘Further travel options’ and repositioned |
| You wanted to flag the new info Annual LD Health check on the JUCD website | We linked through to this page including Derby and Derbyshire produced video featuring local people |
| Wanted more support in the 'What to do if you disagree with our decision' section | A link to the Support and advice directory was added |
| You want special schools to demonstrate how they will support their children using virtual tours, galleries, open evenings, online Q&A’s etc | Expectations of special schools to create virtual tours and online open events to be added to future versions of commissioning agreements with the local authority |
| What training do SEND Officers receive or have received? |
Service is working on a formal qualification to be introduced in the new year so all officers will be a Level 4. Officers weekly also get peer to peer support hosted by DM, drop-in sessions and peer led problem solving Improved information on the role and expectations of SEND team to be shared on the Local Offer website and Facebook |
SEND newsletter
Our SEND newsletter is produced each school term. The newsletter tells the story of what is going on across the city to help young people, parents and professionals stay up to date.
If you've got a story to tell or want to give us your views on our newsletter, you can get in touch by emailing local.offer@derby.gov.uk.