Support offer for young people with special educational needs and disabilities

Overview

Warwickshire County Council Cabinet has approved plans to consult on an integrated education, health and social care Local Offer of support for the county’s children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).

At its meeting on 18 August 2014, Cabinet welcomed real progress on development of Warwickshire’s Local Offer and, in agreement with Children’s Overview and Scrutiny Committee, Health partners and others, are asking parents to have their say.  The government (Department for Education) has also carefully examined Warwickshire’s preparations and given the county the green light to proceed.

The consultation will open on 1 September and run for 12 weeks until 23 November. It will seek people’s views on how the education, health and social care needs of children and young people up to 25 years of age with SEND will be met by the council and key partner organisations.

The Local Offer is an important part of the Children and Families Act 2014 which places new duties on all local authorities and their partners to improve and modernise SEND assessment and support. The Warwickshire offer has been developed following extensive work with parent groups and key partners who formed the SEND Reference Group. Working with parents and, where appropriate, the young people, a new joined up offer brings together information, advice and how to apply for services from education, health and social care support. Details of the offer can be found at www.warwickshire.gov.uk/send.

Please find the consultation document below and also view this helpful video from Hugh Disley, the lead officer for the Special Educational needs consultation.

How to take part

There are many options to have your say which are listed below, if you have questions about the consultation, have difficulty accessing the web pages or accessing the additional documents please contact the Family Information Service on 0845 090 8044 or 01926 742274 or email fis@warwickshire.gov.uk.

• Fill in the online survey here.

• The consultation questions can be completed, printed and posted to: Hugh Disley, Warwickshire County Council, Saltisford Office Park, Ansell Way, Warwick, CV34 4UL

• Comments can be emailed to the Family Information Service at fis@warwickshire.gov.uk

• If you have completed a paper copy of the questionnaire you can return it to any Warwickshire library.

If you require additional copies of the consultation questions or require this in another format such as large print, please call:  01926 742274 / 08450 908044

How to find out more?

We have published information about our local arrangements on our website at: www.warwickshire.gov.uk/send

Additional information can be found on the following national websites:

Council for Disabled Children

Department of Education              

www.gov.uk/government/publications/send-guide-for-parents-and-carers

UPDATE

Through this consultation a number of suggestions have been made about the format and content of the Local Offer information at www.warwickshire.gov.uk/send. With the exception of statutory guidance from Department of Education or Department of Health no changes to the information will be made until after the consultation has finished, responses have been reviewed and Cabinet has made a decision regarding format.

What happens next

This consultation has now closed.

Thank you to everyone who took the time to give us their views.

All responses to the consultation will be evaluated by SEND Reference Group and they will co-produce a paper for the Health and Wellbeing Board and Cabinet.