Introduction

The Children & Families Act 2014 requires that all Local Authorities publish a Local Offer annual report. The development and ongoing management of BF’s Local Offer(LO) is hosted and overseen by the Family Information Service (FIS) and sits alongside the FIS Local Directory website. Over the past year considerable effort has been made to engage with parents and young people in order to ‘co-produce’ the LO and ensure it reflects the needs of local families who have children with SEND. The following report gives an overview of the progress made over the past year.

Contents

  1. Local Offer Categories & Content
  2. Statistics
  3. Marketing & Promotion
  4. User Journey
  5. Feedback
  6. BF SEND Multi Agency Working
  7. You Said… We Did…
  8. What’s Working Well
  9. Moving Forward
  1. Local Offer Categories & Content

Website recordsand advice & guidance pages have increased in number by approx. 25%.

Categories / Record Numbers
Early Years & Childcare / 190
Education, Learning & Transport / 88
Health & Wellbeing / 41
Keeping Safe / Safeguarding / 7
Short Breaks / Fun things to do / 127
Advice & Support / 99
SEND 14-25 / 63
Finance / Housing / 15
Worried About Your Child / 12
  1. Website Statistics/ SEN enquiries/ Brokerage
  • The number of users has increased by 26%
  • Page per view numbers have decreased by 35%, suggesting that the changes we have made have improved the user journey enabling information to be retrieved more effectively.
  • Where users have not been able to ‘self-serve’ they have contacted the Local Offer (FIS) support team directly. We have received22 SEND specific enquiries including 17 more complex brokerage cases.
  1. Marketing & Promotion
  • Posters have been sent to all GP surgeries and links have been established with the Clinical Commissioning Group with a view to having the Local Offer added to GP TV screens & promoted to GPs.
  • The FIS & LO website has been promoted on the BF Corporate Facebook page and in Forest Views
  • Leaflets and promotional items, such as pens, magnets and sticky bugs have been distributed at events and meetings throughout the year.
  • Presentations promoting the Local Offer delivered to numerous parent, professional and youth groups
  • All SEN & Children’s Services departments within BFC now have links to the LO on their email signatures.
  1. User Journey
  • Keyword searches are now available to help users easily access the information they need.
  • The LO website became ‘mobile responsive’, meaning the data displayed now adapts its format to suit which ever device is being used
  • The number of Advice Guidance(A&G) pages has more than doubledto164.
  • A&G pages are now searchable and will also appear in keyword searches in related sections.
  • New search filters have been added.
  • Berkshire Health Foundation Trust (BHFT) recordsare now available via a new syndication portal which enables them to be automatically updated at source, increasing accuracy of data displayed.
  • NHS Choices Health conditions are also now searchable.
  • The syndication portal also allows provider records to be easily shared with neighbouring authorities.
  • Links to the new Bracknell Forest Public Health website have been added.
  1. Feedback, Consultation Multi–Agency Working
  • Promotion of the LO to professionals and families has continued with consultation and presentations delivered toAdviza, Children’s Services, BF Educational Psychology Team, Children’s Specialist Support Team, Larchwood, Kids charity, Breakthrough Employment andBracknell & Wokingham College.
  • Consultation and feedback sessions held with BF Parent Carer Forum, Margaret Wells Furby Parents Group and the Friday Parents Group at the Kerith Centre.
  • LO representatives attended The Children’s Development Centre openingand SEND Approaching Adulthood event.
  • A LO representative and member of the BF Parent Carer Forum participated in the SE Local Offer Peer Review and implemented suggested improvements.
  • Participation in the Send Implementation Survey.
  • Following consultation, it was decided that schools should host their Local Offers on their own SEN webpage, to ensure information is always current and up to date.
  • You Said… We did..
  • Every Local Authority has a duty to ensure that their Local Offer is 'co-produced' and reviewed in partnership with local parents/carers, as well as children and young people themselves. Over the past year,Bracknell Forest's Local Offer team have conducted numerous consultations and feedback sessions with local parent/carer groups & forums, professionals and young people with SEND. The feedback received is also used to highlight any gaps in local services. The "You said, we did" table linked here, shows the feedback suggestions & comments we've received to date, along with our corresponding actions.

  • Gaps in service have been identified over the past year resulting in several SEND brokerage cases, where our LO team have directly supported families to access the services or childcare they had struggled to find.
  • Feedback from a parent group highlighted a need for tailored information and training for parents of children with SEND who are hoping to return to work. This was followed up with Bracknell Wokingham College and a college representative attended the next group meeting as a guest speaker.
  1. What’s Working Well
  • Website statistics indicate that the site is being well used, although the public are not always aware they are using a BF website or recognising the term ‘Local Offer’.
  • Outreach consultation/feedback sessions have proved to be the most effective way of gleaning feedback.
  • The LO is proving to be a useful tool to professionals working with families. Professional use of the LO has increased dramatically.
  • Collaborative working with the Short Breaks team has ensured the LO reflects up to date information about respite and SEND activities.
  • New links to ‘NHS Choices’, allow users to search for up to date information and advice about health conditions.
  1. Moving Forward
  • The Local Offer is continually developing and we welcome any suggestions to improve our website & turn the feedback frown upside down!!
  • The Local Offer is due to be upgraded to improve the ‘look and functions’ of the website based onfeedback suggestions.
  • An advert promoting The LO is due to be added to all BF staff screen savers, to further increase awareness.
  • The LO will possibly be linking to the new BF Community Assets Map – watch this space….

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