SEND local offer feedback 2021-2022
This feedback has been collected at a number of events hosted by the SEND Partnership, including partners from health, education and social care plus representatives from Lancashire Parent Carer Forum and POWAR youth voice group.
Think! SEND – Virtual workshops held with practitioners and parent carers in April and May 2021.
Local Offer Health Workshop – Virtual workshop held with parent carers, LCC and health colleagues from Lancashire and South Cumbria February 2022.
SEND newsletter survey -Circulated July 2022 with 218 responses from parent carers.
You said
We want more opportunities to speak to SEND representatives face-to-face to give feedback about services.
We did
24 face-to-face SEND information events are taking place between summer 2022 and summer 2023 across all 12 districts of Lancashire.
You said
There is information and support available for younger autistic children and their families, but not much for older children and adults.
We did
The Lancashire Autism hub was launched in summer 2022 and anyone can sign up to access free online support on a range of issues affecting autistic children, adolescents and adults.
You said
SENDIAS is a valuable resource but not enough families are told about it.
We did
We make sure SENDIAS is regularly promoted on the local offer social media pages, in the FIND newsletter and is signposted to where appropriate. The team are present at each SEND engagement event.
You said
Parent carers want to know more about how Lancashire is responding to national updates or processes around SEND.
We did
We now have a "What's new" section on the home page of the local offer. Here, we share information about local and national SEND changes or processes, and how we are responding to them.
You said
We want to hear more about free or low cost activities for families that are suitable for children with SEN but not SEN specific.
We did
We asked parents on Facebook to share their recommendations and local knowledge. We actively promote free programmes run by the Children and Family Wellbeing Service and free holiday activities run by the Holiday, Activities and Food programme on our Lancashire Local Offer Facebook page and SEND Directory.
You said
The local offer homepage is not very eye-catching and is difficult to navigate for children and young people.
We did
We held a session with children and young people from our POWAR group who made suggestions to include icons and different colours for the categories on the homepage, and remove some "blurb". This made the homepage look more inviting and easier to read and navigate.