How will families know what services are available locally?

Local councils have a legal duty to publish information about support families will find in the area for:

• Disabled children, and
• Children with special educational needs.

This information should be set out in their ‘local offer’.

Government regulations called The Special Educational Needs and Disability Regulations 2014 say each local council must put their local offer up on their website (see paragraph 57). They must provide details of how anyone without access to the internet can get a copy of the local offer.  And must provide details of how different groups can get a copy of the local offer. This includes disabled people and those with special educational needs.

The same regulations say a local offer should include information about what different agencies can provide for children and young people in the area (see schedule 2). Education, health services, children’s services and adult social care services are all examples of agencies.

It should be clear from a council’s local offer:

• Who a service is for
• How it can be accessed
• How it is decided who gets support or a service
• Where children and families can get information, advice and support schedule 2, paragraph 15)

How families can make complaints about any provision or service set out in the local offer (see schedule 2, paragraph 17).