On 12 March 2020, Cabinet agreed the proposals arising from the outcome of the review of Lancashire's Short Break Offer for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities. Cabinet also agreed that a consultation is undertaken on the proposed changes.

Find out more about the proposed new short breaks offer.

One of the priorities for the SEND Partnership was to review Lancashire's SEND local offer, which is the information, advice, support and services available across Lancashire, for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities.

Following an extensive review, work has been carried out over the last six months to revise the local offer website, which provides a central access point to this information. You can find the revised SEND local offer website at www.lancashire.gov.uk/SEND.

To help spread the word about the new local offer, please share this link or our electronic flyer (PDF 101 KB) with anyone you think may benefit from accessing the local offer. The flyer can be reproduced if required and included in newsletters, social media or on your own websites.

We will continue to share more about the changes taking place via regular updates on the SEND local offer website and Facebook page. In the meantime if you have any questions please get in touch with the SEND Partnership, SENDPartnership@lancashire.gov.uk.

Lancashire County Council's cabinet has agreed a number of proposals to increase the provision for pupils with special educational needs and disabilities in Lancashire over the next five years. The county council needs to support the increasing number of Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCP) that are developed for children and young people. An increase of 42% was experienced between 2014 and 2019. Ensuring that as many children as possible are educated in mainstream schools that are suitable to fit their needs is a paramount commitment of the county council, as well as ensuring that appropriate sufficient specialist provision is available. It is expected that at least another 213 special school places will be needed within the next five years. The county council is investing an additional £10m to support children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).

For more information about this, please see the council's news article.

The SEND Partnership has agreed its ways of working (PDF 499 KB). This document was agreed at the SEND Partnership Board on 16 September.

The LPCF open event in October was a celebration of parent participation and the impact of how parents being involved with improvement work has been a positive change in our county over the past year.

Invited speakers spoke to parent carers on topics including how parents have been involved in the redesign of the Neurodevelopmental Pathway, the Short Breaks redesign and the development of the One Page Profile section of the Education Health and Care Plan.

Parent carers were given opportunities to share their views on selected topics, to post questions and comments either via the flip chart questions around the room or via the tabled questions. All these comments, questions and responses will be published in the Event Report which will be available in the coming weeks.

A child's first day at school can be nerve-racking for them and their parent/carers. Take a look at Lancashire County Council's video with hints and tips for getting your child ready to start school. If you would like more information about any help your child may need you can visit the special educational needs and disabilities local offer.

Lancashire SEND Partnership is hosting three more events in the north and west of the county for parent carers to talk about SEND issues with local professionals.

So far this year, 12 events have been held across Lancashire where parents have met designated clinical officers, SEN co-ordinators, senior managers from the inclusion service and members of the information advice and support team.

We will post upcoming events at different locations when they become available.

POWAR the council for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities have created a survey for young people with SEND to share what they think is the top issue for them. Once the results are in, POWAR will create a campaign to raise awareness of and tackle the issue.

POWAR would like to hear the voices of children and young people through this survey and ask that you share it with your child/young person so POWAR can collate as many views as possible.

www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/EmPOWAR

If your child or young person would like to join POWAR, or you would like more information about the group, please email Mia Leyland on mia.leyland@barnardos.org.uk.  

The Local Area Partnerships (LAPs) provide two-way communication between families and senior practitioners. Each monthly meeting is hosted by the Designated Clinical Officer (DCO) who enables families to identify and address SEND issues at a local level. The LAPs meet in schools in the north, east and south of Lancashire and have representatives from health, education and the local authority who talk with parent carers and young people about their needs and identify any gaps in services.

To raise a question or concern in your area please contact your DCO before the next meeting:

Each LAP meeting is attended by at least one parent carer representative who will help ensure your voice is heard.

So far, nearly 2,000 people have contributed to the Personal Outcomes Evaluation Tool (POET) survey from In-Control.

Children, young people, families and practitioners across Lancashire can take part in the survey which is part of a national pilot to help local areas understand the impact of the SEND reforms.

The survey takes less than 10 minutes to complete online using one of these links:

• Survey for parents or carers
• Survey for children and young people
• Survey for practitioners

The findings are being used to inform improvements and will enable the SEND Partnership to understand more about what is working well and where more improvement in needed.