About Local Offer Local Offer Annual Feedback Report 2021/22

Local Offer Annual Feedback Report 2021/22

Annual Report 2021/22

Feedback Received via Feedback Button and Emails and Action taken (September 2021- August 2022)

This report includes the feedback received through the feedback button on the Local Offer and those received via email, it also includes the actions taken in response to feedback.

On Information > Newsletters Please change the contact details for West Sussex ADHD Support to our Facebook pages for the north and the south of the county... Action: edited the Newsletter pages, which there is now only two of, Local Offer Monthly Snapshot and SEND and Inclusion Newsletters. Checked the details for West Sussex ADHD support are correct on their service card.

Website is a bit bland. Action: unfortunately, no email was left to follow up and enquire further. There is an upgrade planned for the Local Offer website towards the end of 2022 and this feedback will be shared during development stages to help create a more exciting site that still meets accessibility criteria.

Not all the schools on the Independent and non-maintained Local Offer page link to their website. Action: Linked all schools to their websites, updated the list (removing old schools and adding new ones) and organised the list better. Also added text inviting schools on the list to create a service summary card. Please note there is no statutory requirement for Independent and Non-maintained schools to be on the Local Offer, however they are welcome to create a service summary card if they would like to.

‘Even looking on local offer pages doesn't allow you to hone down enough to search’. Action: This feedback was in relation to not being able to view schools on the Local Offer by the size of the school. This is not a current feature, during the upgrade work this will be suggested as a feature. If this is not possible this could be added to guidance for schools setting up Local Offer pages.

Independent Travel Training page - Fun and Breaks service no longer exists, page also received an 8/10 rating. Action: Removed Fun and Breaks Service from this page and removed the service card for Fun and Breaks.

‘Looking for WSCC EOTAS policy. Searched for EOTAS. Offered the jargon buster. Hmmn not what I was looking for.’ Action: Spoke to the service lead for SENAT, there is not currently an Education Other Than at School Policy, each case is considered on an individual basis in accordance with national guidance. There was a mention of creating a policy however this service lead has now left and seeking to pick this back up once the new lead has started in September 2022.

Local Offer - What’s to Come

In the future it is hoped that the Local Offer will take a big leap forward in helping to perfect its search, usability for service providers, have more information for children and young people, and become more interwoven with ‘Tools for Schools’.

Improving the search function

For an example of what the new service search will look like you can view the Buckinghamshire Family Information Service website. Buckinghamshire’s website has been produced by the same organisation (Future Gov) who have built and developed our Local Offer over the last 6 years. They used feedback from myself that I had received about our Local Offer, and thoughts from parent carers in Buckinghamshire to help create the new system. A key part of this new search will be the ability for the Local Offer Officer to generate categories for searching by themselves. Currently this is not possible but going forward categories can be co-produced with the websites audience to make searching quicker and more responsive to the community’s needs.

Usability for Service Providers

A consistent issue with the Local Offer is service providers and schools not keeping their Local Offer service cards up to date, some services within the county are fantastic at keeping things up to date and to them I would like to say a big thank you! By streamlining the process and adding more flexibility to how and when providers display their cards it is hoped that this may help reduce the inaccuracy of information on the website.

Preparation for change

Meanwhile, we are starting to prepare the Local Offer for these changes by having a good ‘spring clean’ of the website. This includes ensuring pages that are no longer needed are deleted, pages related to school provision that could be on ‘Tools for Schools’ are moved over (and linked to from the Local Offer) and that service summary cards are controlled by the service/organisation provider and as up to date as possible.