Update on Local Offer website and Local Offer Adviser

Local Authorities have a statutory duty to develop and publish a Local Offer that sets out the support they expect to be available for local children and young people with SEND (Special Educational needs and Disabilities). As you may know, the Local Offer Officer post has been vacant since January 2023, and a co-produced solution was agreed between key partners in SEND Information, Advice and Support Service (SENDIASS), Family Information Services (FIS) and West Sussex Parent Carer Forum (WSPCF) to cover the work whilst the Local Authority reviewed what needed to change.

It was decided that:

- the Local Offer work would sit better in the Family Information Service, as they have a team of Information Officers who will be able to support the Local Offer Officer with the admin side of the website.

- the post was reviewed, and we have recently recruited to this new role of a ‘Local Offer Adviser’. We hope to have them in post by mid-April.

- The website will be moved onto the West Sussex County Council website as a short-term solution. This was driven mainly by the fact that the current website was deemed non-accessible by Government Digital Services. The new website will go live in April 2024.

- The long-term solution will be for the Local Authority to scope what is needed from a Local Offer website, and service users will be asked for their input as well. The hope is that we will have a Local Offer that is fit for purpose and co-produced with key partners by April 2025.

Watch this space for more updates over the next few months.