Local Offer governance
Every council must publish a Local Offer. This will tell you what support is available for children and young people with special educational needs or disabilities, and their families. It should include information about education, health and care provision.
Reviewing and developing the Swindon Local Offer
Local Offer Champions
Local Offer Champions were established in 2019 and the group meet on a quarterly basis. The group has representatives across Swindon Borough Council, Integrated Care Board, health services, voluntary sector, Swindon SEND Families Voice (SSFV) and SEND Children and Young Peoples Participation Group (STEP).
The key role of the Local Offer Champions is to promote the content to service users; work with the Local Offer Development Officer to ensure the site provides accurate and up to date information whilst considering user experience.
Information, Advice and Support Services (IASS)
The Information, Advice and Support Services (IASS) group meets termly. The Children and Families Act (2014) provides a legal requirement for local authorities to ensure children and young people with Special Educational Needs and/or Disabilities (SEND) and their parents/carers have access to an impartial information, advice and support service.
The IASS group is tasked to deliver effective co-production of the Local Offer at a strategic level, and ensure that best practice is embedded across the strategic partnership of the Local Area.
The Local Authority work with representatives from SSFV, STEP, Swindon SEND information, advice and support service (SIAS), Bath and North East Somerset, Swindon and Wiltshire Integrated Care Board (ICB) and Health Watch Swindon to provide high quality information, advice and support to children, young people and parents in their area.
SENDi and AP Strategy 2023-28
The Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND), Inclusion and Alternative Provision Strategy (SENDi and AP Strategy) outlines Swindon’s vision for SEND, Inclusion and Alternative Provision over the next five years, and outlines the identified priorities that will be worked towards.
The continued development of the Local Offer happens with children, young people with SEND and their families in mind so they can access information and advice as easily as possible. This is further strengthened by a regular audit to ensure that information is relevant, accessible and up to date.
The Local Offer is linked with many facets of the strategy. Priority Five in the strategy is ‘We will make sure that accurate and accessible information is readily available to children, young people and their families, including transparency around key decisions’. The co-production and delivery of this new platform that enables this was a key deliverable within this priority.
Local Offer Statutory Compliance Check
The Local Offer Statutory Compliance Check ensures that the Local Offer is compliant with the SEND Code of Practice 2014. It sets out a list of ‘musts’ and ‘shoulds’ but for the purposes of developing the Local Offer all requirements listed in the Compliance Check should be considered essential.
In September 2024 an update to the 2021 Compliance Check was completed by the Local Offer Development Officer, SSFV, STEP, ICB and SIAS to ensure that the Local Offer was meeting the listed requirements.
Feedback
As stated in the Special educational needs and disability code of practice: 0 to 25 years, local authorities must publish feedback received about the Local Offer and say what was done in response.
Feedback and responses to the feedback that is received is published in the following ways:
Please continue to use the feedback link at the bottom of every content page on this website or email localoffer@swindon.gov.uk to let us know if any broken links are found.
Young Person’s Champion’s
The Young Person’s Champion role is a new role within Swindon’s SEND Service. It has been set up as part of the Change Programme Partnership (CPP) to increase the voice of children and young people in relation to SEND Services and the Local Offer, and to ensure that they are aware of the services and information available to them and that those services are benefitting them.
Local Offer change request forms
Local Offer change request forms (Word document) help to make sure that any changes requested on the content pages of the Local Offer are thoroughly and smoothly implemented.
The change request form is usually sent by professionals inside and outside the SEND service from people who already have or want their content on the Local Offer. The form is received and triaged to produce a RAG rating that determines when this work should be completed. The ratings are as follows:
- Red (ten working days)
- Amber (20 working days)
- Green (30 working days)
To update and amend content on the Local Offer website visit How can I request changes on the SEND Local Offer?
Useful resources
