Annual Review of Manchesters SEND Local Offer November 2016.
Local authorities must publish a Local Offer, setting out in one place information about provision they expect to be available across education, health and social care for children and young people in their area who have SEN or are disabled, including those who do not have Education, Health and Care (EHC) plans. In setting out what they 'expect to be available', local authorities should include provision, which they believe will actually be available. Manchester published its local offer on September 1st 2014.
The Local Offer Review Board was established in 2014, membership is made up of senior representatives from health, education, schools and social care as well as parent representatives. The Board is co-chaired by PACT (Manchester’s Parent Carers Forum) and the Strategic Lead for SEND and reports in to the SEND Reform Board. The Board meets three times a year and members come from education, health, social care and local parent support groups. The purpose of the Board is to ensure the Local Authority is carrying out its statutory responsibilities to prepare, develop and review its Local Offer and provide a mechanism for all agencies including parents and young people to provide feedback on the Local Offer.
The Board is currently recruiting for new parent representatives to attend on a rotating basis to ensure representation of a wider group of parents/carers in Manchester. The Board is also working with the engagement lead for children and young people to further develop ways to include the voice of children and young people in service design and delivery. ‘Young Peoples’ Voice’ is a standing agenda item. This includes a 6 month project to develop digital solutions to capture the voice of children and young people.
Number of hits to the Local Offer
Since July 2015 the number of hits has steadily increased from 2478 in the period July to September 2015 to 2995 during the same period in 2016.
Since August 2016 we have been able to monitor the categories which receive the most hits. View all services has consistently received the most hits with Activities, sports and things to do also being very popular. The number of hits to education, health and care plans and the parent/carer advice and support is lower than expected. We will be working with our parent forums to improve and promote these key areas.
How we gather feedback and comments:
There is a dedicated Feedback section on the Local Offer which outlines how to leave feedback:
· The Local offer has a feedback form attached and contact details for anyone that needs assistance with this, all feedback is published on our getting involved section of the Local Offer.
· Local Offer Drop In’s, developed and supported by the Information, Advice and Support (IAS) team, are regular open meetings in community venues which offer parents, carers and practitioners the opportunity to network, get support with using the local offer and give feedback.
· The Participation Register provides an opportunity for parents to express an interest in participation without any commitment. The Register is designed to capture information about how parents would like to be involved, areas of interest, skills, availability etc. The Register is currently managed by the IAS team and they are able to use this to ensure participation is more representative. Regular meetings of this group of parents are held and any feedback is gathered and reported to the Local Offer Review Board.
· Across all SEND services we have a ‘Parent Feedback Poster / Scrap Book’ where even short conversations and ‘off the cuff’ comments and feedback are captured and recognised as a rich source of data. This is collated on a monthly basis and a thematic analysis is undertaken.
· Parental engagement officers work across the city attending parent groups and gathering feedback along with the ongoing events (Preparing for Adulthood, School Local Offer events, Vulnerable Children’s Network etc) this feedback is collated and key themes / issues are channelled into the Local Offer Review Board.
· Parent Champions have been sourced to support the promotion of the Local Offer: they undergo an introductory training session to give them a good understanding of it and the range of support & resources within it. Regular Parent Champion meeting involve an interactive audit of the Local Offer which informs further areas for development. Part of this role involves feeding back what parents say about the Local Offer and the services it lists. These voices are captured and fed through to the Parent Champion Representative, who sits on the Local Offer Review Board.
· In addition to the above we also have the developing Parent Carer Forum, PACT (Parents Achieving Change Together) as well as co-chairing the Local Offer Review Board; they also sit on the SEND Reform Board. They are pivotal in reaching parents through a variety of means such as contact with other localised parent groups and via social media.
· There is a development plan which details the systematic review of each area within the Local Offer. Along with parents, service area representation and any other relevant stakeholders, the review involves interrogating the content and access of the information within it. Gaps are identified, reported and addressed through the Local Offer Review Board.
Feedback received 2016:
The culmination of our feedback is reported in a, ‘You said, we did’ format.
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We are currently working with parents & providers to increase the
Number of Short Break Services by having an Approved Provider List. The Approved Provider List will significantly increase the range and volume of short break providers available. This will go live in the next few months.
We have set up a Disability Champion Network meeting for all universal service providers across the city. They run every 3 months. As part of this we offer a range of training, support and challenge to ensure their services are fully inclusive.
We are working with parents & partners to draft a commission for an organisation to offer a range of support and challenge to Universal Services. We will pilot this idea as part of it.
§ Introduced buttons to make the sections more obvious and easier to open from a smaller device such as a mobile phone.
§ Removed unnecessary text
§ Simplified the format
We have designed an events calendar which has now been added to the Local Offer, listing key events across the city.
We have introduced a “What’s New on the Local Offer” feature which lists any recent editions to it.
We have commissioned this type of feedback feature as part of the recent Local Offer Improvements. It is called ‘Rate and Review’ and will be going live shortly.
We commissioned Venture Arts to work with Young People to illustrate the Local Offer with the activities they use and enjoy, to make the Local Offer look more interesting and appealing. This project was a useful way to see what young people wanted to do. Because of its success, we have included further, similar work in our plan for early next year.
We held an event at the Town Hall in March 2016, where over 30 providers across the city attended including youth, play, theatres, museums, sports, libraries etc showcasing the inclusive work they are involved in. It provided an opportunity for parents and providers to talk directly with each other.
As well as the usual listings on Help and Support Manchester, we have added a dedicated ‘holiday activities’ area on the Local Offer for Disabled Children and Young People.
We are working with parents and partners to develop this event later this year. It has been scheduled into the co-produced year-plan.
We have sourced an emotional resilience and well being course for our Parent Champions and offered it to any parents on our Participation Register. The course is designed to boost your mood, thinking, relaxation, assertiveness, confidence, motivation, understanding, communication, activity and sleep.
We co-designed and co-delivered a session to look at how direct payments work & what's involved. Parents and young people presented their stories about how direct payments have enabled greater flexibility & scope for innovation and aspiration.
We ran a workshop with the involved team to put greater emphasis on the outcomes of a direct payment (the difference it makes) rather than an over emphasis on what the direct payment can / cannot be used for.
We have arranged for the Board to be Co-chaired by parent representatives.
We have approval to deliver training across SEND services on co-production / working together. As part of this work, we are collaborative developing a co-production / working Together Strategy with the Parent Forum (Parents Achieving Change Together) and associated parent groups.
This has been formally arranged: PACT is represented on this senior management, decision-making board.
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