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About the Local Offer

Camden local offer

What is the Local Offer?

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.

It should be your first step when looking for information and includes information from across the local area including about education, health and care services.

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
.

Who is it for?

Camden’s Local Offer is for parents, carers, children and young people, and all those who support children and young people with SEND.

Why have the Local Offer?

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.

This will help you find the right support to help you make the right decisions and to plan for the future.

How was it developed and who was involved?

Camden’s Local Offer has been produced in partnership with colleagues from health, social care, education, and the voluntary sector, but most importantly, it has been produced in partnership with parents, carers and young people.

We initially co-produced the first version of our Local Offer with active participation from parents. The first version went live in September 2014, and we were aware we wanted and needed to make further changes to improve its accessibility.

After that, we consulted wider with a number of events that parents, carers and young people attended during October 2014. Invites were widely sent and we had attendance from parents and carers with children with a range of needs and disabilities. This process also included an event with young people at the Reactive Forum in December 2014.

After this feedback, the Camden Local Offer was improved taking into account the wider feedback received. The refreshed Local Offer went live in May 2015.

This included the preparing for adult life section that young people from the 7 O’clock club were involved designing and suggesting content for through a number of workshops.

Feedback is welcomed on a continuous basis, and this feedback will be used to improve the Local Offer further. We also want to work with you and it'd be great if you'd like to get involved.

To find out more about how we are working with parents, carers and young people and acting on their feedback, please see our 'You said, we did' page which has further details about this as well as how you can get involved. 

How and where can I access the Local Offer?

There are a number of ways you can access and find out about the Local Offer. You can:

  • Use this Local Offer website, which has information, support and details about local services. (There is a video with an overview and instructions below)
  • If English is your second language, and you would prefer for the information to be translated into a different language, you can do that by using the Google Translate feature. You can translate the content into over 90 different languages by using the translate feature on the top of the page. (View the video with instructions below)
  • If you would prefer for the content to be read out aloud, you can also do that by using the BrowseAloud function. This allows the content to be read out aloud in English, or translated and read out in a different language. (View the video with instructions below)
  • If you don't have a computer, our Local Offer website is fully responsive and so works on tablet devices (like iPad's) as well as on mobile smart phones.
  • If you don't have internet access, you can access this Local Offer website free of charge by visiting your local Camden library. You can find your local Camden Library by clicking here.

How to use the Local Offer website videos

How to use the Local Offer website

How to search on the Local Offer website

How to translate information on the Local Offer website

How to use BrowseAloud on the Local Offer website

Having my say and getting involved?

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 Contact Us or email localoffer@camden.gov.uk.

We have already had lots of feedback and you can see a summary in the ‘You said, we did’ section.

More Information

There are lots of places you can find more information, and there are some useful links on the right.

  • One of the organisations is SENDIASS (Special Educational Needs and Disability Advice Support Service) who can provide parents, carers and young people with impartial advice and support. You can call them on 020 7974 6264 or visit their website.

Can my service/organisation be registered on the Local Offer?

The London Borough of Camden aims to include a wide range of services and information which would be useful to families of children and young people aged up to 25 with SEND.

We list and provide a Local Offer flag to services directly provided by, or commissioned on behalf of the London Borough of Camden and/or Camden Clinical Commissioning Group. We consider requests to be listed from not-for-profit and charitable organisations who provide services to and are accessible to children and young people with SEND.

When requesting inclusion, you will be expected to provide answers to the following questions:

  • What is the name of your service?
  • What does your service do?
  • Where is the service located and what areas does it cover?
  • Who does your service provide for?
  • How can a child or young person start using the service?
  • How are decisions made about eligibility for your service?
  • How do you communicate with service users and how are they involved in decision making/planning?
  • Is your service fully accessible? If so, how? 
  • What training have the staff supporting children and young people with SEND had/or will be they be getting?
  • What safeguarding processes and procedures do you have in place? 
  • What quality assurance processes do you have in place? 
  • Who should a service user contact if they want to raise a concern or complain about something?
  • Who can a parent carer/young person contact for further information

Anyone working with children and young people will be required to have appropriate Disclosure and Barring Service Checks, safeguarding policies and insurance in place, which would have to be made available upon request (or you can upload these supporting documents with your service record). If there are any complaints from service users, the London Borough of Camden reserves the right to remove your record.

If your service is listed, there is a responsibility on you to ensure you update your record with any changes and that the record is kept accurate and up to date.

If you do not fulfill the criteria above, you can register on other SEND directory sites such as SENDirect as we do signpost to directories such as these for families that are interested.

To apply to register, please follow the instructions here.

If you have any questions, please email localoffer@camden.gov.uk.

Education provision

Wherever possible Camden seeks to make provision for children and young people with SEND in local maintained provision, preferably in borough or in neighbouring boroughs. Where needs cannot be met locally, Camden will consider funding independent provision that can meet the child’s needs and in exceptional cases, residential provision will be considered.

As the appropriate placement will depend on the individual child’s assessed needs and our capacity to meet those needs locally, the Camden Local Offer displays a link to the Department for Education’s list of independent & non maintained special schools and Independent Specialist Colleges in England.  

Disclaimer

The Local Offer is a free and impartial service provided by Camden Local Authority.

Any service or provider mentioned in this Local Offer does not represent a recommendation or endorsement of the service provided. You are responsible for undertaking your own checks to determine suitability of the service and provider.

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