Barnet’s Local Offer – Annual Consultation

Overview

Barnet’s Local Offer is a guide to the services available for children and young people (aged 0- 25 years old) with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). The purpose of the Local Offer is to give both the service users and their families’ local information about;

• education
• health
• social care and family support
• leisure activities
• advice and support groups
• preparation for adulthood
• transport
• money matters

Information on these services and support, as well as information about SEN processes are all in one place on our Local Offer website.

One of the key elements of our Local Offer is that all organisations across the borough, who provide services for children with SEN work together with the children and young people, parents and carers who use them. This is known as co-production and it helps to make sure the services are what is required, easy to use and identifies gaps in provision.

We are currently consulting on our Local Offer to make sure it is co-produced with all those that use it and to better identify what is helpful and how we can improve our services.

Why we are consulting

As part of our commitment to co-production, we want families and young people to be at the centre of the reforms and our service improvement agenda.

In particular, to further develop our Local Offer in line with what families in Barnet need , we want help to understand how our Local Offer can be improved to ensure:

• it meets the needs of all children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities;
• it supports parents/carers and families;
• it informs professionals so that they can offer a seamless service;
• it works better by identifying any gaps in the system;
• our Local Offer website provides clear information on what is available for children and young people with SEND and their families in the local area

We wish to hear from all young people, parents/carers or professionals and are particularly keen to hear from you if you:

• have used or intend to use our Local Offer website;
• are a child or young person with SEND;
• are a parent/carer or family member of a child or young person with SEND;
• are a professional working with children and families with SEND.