Feeding back on the Local Offer
We love hearing from you. Without insightful feedback we don’t know what you want us to improve. We really want to make this site work for you.
You’ll find a link at the end of each page where you can tell us if there is a problem with information or if something isn’t working properly. Information provided is anonymous. Is it not clear, not up to date or correct, or not working? How can we make it better?
You can also email us at localoffer@somerset.gov.uk or message us @LocalOfferSomerset on Facebook.
Reporting what you tell us
Each year we summarise statistics on usage, key messages from feedback, and our actions and plan for the next year in our Local Offer Annual Report. But feedback doesn’t come in just once a year so this page is kept up to date with feedback as we receive it and what we are doing about it.
This year you are saying, and we are doing...
Lack of a roadmap
Parent carers said there isn’t a roadmap to say this is where you are and this is your next step.
We have made clear pathways through information
- Where processes are complicated, we have a design pattern to help to take you through each step.
- By laying out the process using steps we can help to give you an understanding of where you are and what comes next.
For example Education, Health and Care Plans – The page takes you on a journey breaking down the process into steps (often numbered). Eligibility criteria and supporting documents or referral forms are available in the relevant steps to avoid overwhelming before you get to that point. It is clear what comes next but also what should have happened before.
Getting lost
Parent carers said they would often jump from one place to the next in order to find information
We have put the information in the right place
- Somerset Council and Somerset’s SEND Local Offer websites have been merged to avoid the same information being in two separate places.
- The SEND information is clearly and consistently designed, so you will quickly and easily be able to find it.
- Its place within universal information helps provide context.
For example – We used to have the SEND part of Youth Offending sat within Preparing for adult life section of the Local Offer due to the age group it was relevant for, but this didn’t fit well as a topic (we’re not encouraging young people to prepare to start offending!). So now it sits within the council’s Youth Offending section, people can now see what support is available to prevent youth offending and at a glance in the purple box see how this provision is adapted for young people with SEND.
Broken links
Feedback forms are mainly used by people to tell us of broken links.
We have a program that tells us if there are dead links (the web page no longer exists) so we can try to make sure this does not happen. This automated process can only tell us if the links is dead though. It won’t tell us if the webpage linked to still works but no longer has the content we told you they have. Somerset Parent Carer Forum audit pages every 6 months to catch these broken links. But please continue to use the feedback form at the bottom of every page to let us know if you find any links not working or not showing what you expected to see.