Introduction
Somerset’s SEND Local Offer is our hub of information, advice and guidance about the support and services available locally to children and young people aged 0-25 years with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) and their families.
The information and services on this website are for all children and young people with SEND that the local authority is responsible for, whether or not they have an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP), to help families to make the best decisions.
Somerset’s SEND Local Offer is also an important resource for professionals to support understanding of the range of services and provisions for children and young people with SEND across the county.
You can read more about what we aim to do, how we will get there in the SEND Strategy and our plans. And you can read more about our plan for improving services for children and young people with SEND in Somerset.
Gemma and Alice talk us through what the Local Offer is and the changes we made following user research, during the Local Offer Live in March 2023.
How is the Local Offer is produced?
Somerset’s Local Offer was first published 1 September 2014. It has been co-produced between Somerset Council, NHS Somerset, Somerset Parent Carer Forum (SPCF) and young people’s groups in schools and colleges. It was also initially developed through commissioned activity with Compass Disability.
Some of the principles we work towards are described in Somerset’s SEND Local Offer Accessibility Strategy. We now keep it up to date and make sure it reflects and embeds the needs of service users through a process co-produced with the SPCF and Somerset Council’s SEND Participation and Engagement Team.
Working with parents and young people
All aspects of services in Somerset’s Local Offer are developed in partnership with parent carers, young people and practitioners in agencies and the voluntary sector. Somerset’s Local Offer empowers parents, carers, young people and practitioners by setting out clearly what can be expected locally, how to access services and where to find more information. We are working more closely with children and young people with SEND and their families to understand and learn from their experiences when formulating strategies to improve the area.
We work directly with parents and carers through:
- the Somerset Parent Carer Forum, and
- Somerset Special Educational Needs and Disability Information Advice and Support Service (SENDIAS)
We work directly with young people through:
- Somerset Council’s SEND Participation Team and Young Person’s Champion
- The Unstoppables Young Person’s Forum
Get in touch
Somerset’s Local Offer is reviewed regularly. We encourage all forms of feedback – positive and negative – so that we can continue to develop and improve the website and our offer of services to make sure it remains useful.
You can find out how to give feedback in the ‘How can I include my feedback’ section of our Keeping the Local Offer up to date page
