What is the Local Offer?

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Letter from the Senior Manager - Inclusion

Dear Parent/Carer

The SEND team are currently working away from the office environment in order to follow government guidance. We are all working at the moment and we have access to emails and phones as usual. We are continuing to run panels (through video conferencing and conference phone calls). We are in contact with our health and social care colleagues by phone, text and email.

We are still processing requests for statutory assessments, writing EHC plans and redrafting EHCP’s from Annual Reviews. We are working with schools and settings to process annual reviews virtually.

We are emailing paperwork as access to our printers is limited because we are working away from the office. If we haven’t got your email address and need to send something to you we will contact you by telephone to request a contact email address from you. We can send things by post if you do not have an email address or do not wish to be contacted in this way, but it may take longer than usual.

We are working on the Local Offer to add information to help parent/carers who have their children at home when schools are closed, or family members have symptoms and are self-isolating. Keep visiting the site for useful websites and resources in the coming days and weeks.

We have set up a SEND helpline which is an education, health and social care multi-agency response to supporting the needs of SEND pupils at this current time.

We will aim to respond to all enquiries within 24 hours.

The purpose of the helpline is to;

address general SEND queries through signposting to relevant resources/guidance as appropriate
allocate appropriate staff to give provide advice and information for known individual SEND children

The SEND referral line will be available 10 – 12 Monday to Friday on 03330150816

Useful contact numbers for the team are the same as always:

01229 407403 for Barrow and South Lakeland
01946 506211 for Allerdale and Copeland
01228 226843 for Carlisle and Eden

Please get in touch if you have any queries, either using the numbers above or through your named contact.

Mary Mulligan
Senior Manager Inclusion

Cumbria's Local Offer aims to provide information to parents/carers and young people about provision expected 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) Plan.

In this one place, you can find information about providers of the following services:

The SEND Local Offer must be.......

Engaging: involve parents, children and young people in developing and reviewing the SEND Local Offer as well as collaborating with those providing services with the intention of designing, developing and improving services.
Accessible: easy to understand, factual and jargon-free, and structured in a way that relates to young people's and parents' needs (for example by broad age category or by type of provision).
Transparent and comprehensive: parents and young people should know what support is available across education, health and social care from 0 to 25 years, how to access it (including eligibility criteria, where relevant), how decisions are made and who is accountable. The SEND Local Offer needs to include details of where to go for information, advice and support, as well as how to make complaints, or appeal against decisions.

The SEND Local Offer is not simply a directory of services. It includes information about:

Education, health and care provision for children and young people with SEND (which should include information about its quality and the destinations/outcomes achieved by those who use it).
Arrangements for identifying and assessing children and young people's SEND including arrangements for requesting an Education, Health and Care (EHC) needs assessment.
Other educational provision (educational provision outside schools or colleges, such as sports or arts provision).
Training provision, including apprenticeships.
Arrangements for travel to and from schools, post-16 institutions and early years providers.
Support to help children and young people moving between phases of education (for example from early years to school, from primary to secondary) and to prepare for adulthood.
Sources of information, advice and support in the Local Authority's area relating to SEN, including forums for parents and carers, support groups, childcare and leisure activities.
Arrangements for making complaints, for the resolution of disagreements, medication and parents and young people's rights of appeal to the First Tier Tribunal.

The SEND Local Offer is an important source for children, young people and their families. It will also be a significant source of information for all professionals, not just those who will be directly involved in the EHC plan production. Service users will have an important part to play in the ongoing development and review of the SEND Local Offer.

Who can I talk to?

If you think your child may have special educational needs, contact the 'SN co-ordinator' or 'SENCO' in your child's school or nursery.

If you wish to discuss your child's needs with a Lead Education Officer, please contact the SEND Teams below:

01229 407403 for Barrow and South Lakeland
01946 506211 for Allerdale and Copeland
01228 226843 for Carlisle and Eden

Our Cumbria SEND Information, Advice and Support Service (SENDIAS) can also give you advice about SEN.

Our Cumbria Support Groups are also more than happy to help. Please click here for their contact details.

Are you a service or organisation?

If you would like to add your organisation to the Local Offer, please click on the below link and follow the instructions:

Creating a New Directory Record - Registration Instructions

If your organisation is already on the directory, please follow the instructions below.

Amending a Directory Record - Registration Instructions

If you have already registered but have forgotten your username and password, please contact us at: FID@cumbria.gov.uk

Links to other authority Local Offers

We are aware that some families in Cumbria may access services provided by other local authority areas. You may for example live in the county but your child may attend a Lancashire school. You might live in Carlisle but access some health provision in County Durham.

To help such families this section provides links to other Local Offers that are available by neighbouring authorities. By clicking on the relevant link you will be taken to the Local Offer for the local authority you have chosen.

In addition the Department of Education have funded the development of a national resource called SEND Direct. A link to this searchable site is also listed below:

Lancashire's Local Offer

Northumberland's Local Offer

County Durham's Local Offer

Yorkshire's Local Offer

SEND Direct