What is the Local Offer?
February 2022
The Local Offer is information for parents and carers of children with special educational needs and/or disabilities. 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 (SEND), and their families.
The local offer should make it easier to find out what you need to know, give you information about what is available and where to get further information. Where possible, it should be your first step when looking for information and includes information from across the local area including education, health, and care services.
This will help you find the right support to help you make the right decisions and to plan for the future.
It provides:
- Information, advice, and guidance; and
- Service information including what services you can expect to receive, what the criteria is, the referral process and contact details
The term special educational needs (SEN) describes the needs of children who have a difficulty or disability which makes learning harder for them than other children of the same age.
SEN can cover a broad spectrum of difficulty or disability and children may have wider ranging or specific problems. Children’s SEN are generally thought of in the following four broad areas of need and support:
- communication and interaction
- cognition and learning
- social, emotional, and mental health
- sensory and/or physical needs
We understand that you want the best for your child – and this includes getting the right help when you need it, whether for a short time or if you need longer term support. There are different stages of support, and different types of support depending on the age of your child.
By law, the council has to consult and accept feedback from parents, carers, and young people so that we can improve the Local Offer even more.
We want to know what you think.
If you want to have your say or get involved in work to develop the Local Offer, you can complete our feedback form or email sen@haringey.gov.uk