SEND Local Offer Annual Feedback Summary 2023
Thank you to everyone who has taken the time to feedback about the Local Offer this year. Your contributions have enabled us to make some positive improvements to the website and the services we provide elsewhere.
How we have gathered feedback about the Local Offer this year
- Feedback gathered through the Local Offer website
- Feedback gathered by the Local Offer team
- Local Offer feedback questionnaire
- Feedback gathered from elsewhere
Feedback gathered through the Local Offer website
On every page of our Local Offer site, there is a feedback box that gives users a quick and easy way to make suggestions. Once submitted this feedback is received by the Local Offer team who wherever possible, take action in response and respond directly to the person who has left the feedback.
We have compiled the comments we have received specifically about the Local Offer and our responses below:
You said | We did |
|---|---|
https://www.surreycc.gov.uk/adults/care-and-support/disability/spb/health/annual-health-checks should be on local offer too | Information regarding health checks has been added to the Local Offer. |
Please can you rename the reference to Surrey Healthy Schools - as the Surrey Healthy Schools approach. It is important that it is not considered a programme | After checking with the parties responsible this information was corrected. |
Can you take the year off the link to Surrey Healthy Schools - as this can seem finite - and may also become out of date. | After checking with the parties responsible this information was corrected. |
I found the local offer information very useful as it was presented in a straightforward, clear way. The website is great you must have put a lot of thought and effort into it. | Positive feedback comment - no further action. |
Really helpful information. thank you. | Positive feedback comment - no further action. |
| To manage and coordinate that number of consultations and responses there is a requirement a dedicated team; SEND Admissions | The text on the page was amended. |
related files says 'undefined' ? | This error was corrected on the page. |
Where are the phone numbers? I want to call my case officer not email them! | We do not publish individual workers contact numbers. Case Officers can be contacted by phone through the Learners Single of Access, this has been made clearer on the SEND team contact details page. |
You've spelt practice wrong | This was corrected. |
Link broken for transition guide:https://www.surreylocaloffer.org.uk/young-people/preparing-for-adulthood/your-transition-guide-to-local-post-16-education-options-and-support-services | This was corrected. |
This page is out of date and needs updating | We liaised with the responsible person regarding this. |
The phone number is wrong call Family line on 08088005678. Change it to link to their website please https://www.family-action.org.uk/what-we-do/children-families/familyline/ | This has been corrected. |
The link is broken for the The Surrey Alternative Curriculum Pathways and Reintegration Support Strategy in the 3rd paragraph. | This was corrected. |
typo on the link - medical conditional and education page. | This was corrected. |
Need to capitalise 'Inclusion and Additional Needs' as this is the name of the team | This was corrected. |
The form for checklist is not allowing me to click the boxes. I don't want to have to print it | We liaised with the responsible person/team for this document regarding this. |
Feedback gathered by the Local Offer team
Alongside the Local Offer website, there is also an email enquiry service, which responds to enquiries, feedback or queries that those visiting the site may have. Complaints, comments and detailed compliments are captured by the team.
The most common themes of our enquiries were:
- Signposting families to support services
- Request for the contact details of an SEN practitioner supporting a family.
- Information requiring updating/adding on the Local Offer website or Directory.
Generally the feedback received has indicated that most people are satisfied with the service they receive in response to enquiries. A sample of some of this feedback is below:
- Thank you so much for the information.
- Appreciate your help with this
- Thank you for the information, I will look into this with the Carer.
- Thank you very much for sharing the information.
- Thank you, all this information is really helpful.
- Thank you for your quick and helpful reply, this is good to know.
- Thank you for your prompt response and this information,
- Thanks so much I will let the family know of this, very useful thank you
Our email inboxes are monitored on a daily basis and we aim to respond within 48 hours, we hope to keep offering a helpful and responsive service to those who contact us. We hope to introduce a feedback survey for respondents to share their experiences in 2024.
Local Offer feedback questionnaire
Between the 26th June-3rd September 2023, we widely promoted a short feedback questionnaire to receive current views and experiences of using the Local Offer website. We used the same questions we asked in our survey of late 2020, to see following the creation of a website in 2022 what progress had been made.
We have published a summary of results and a comparison to the same questions in 2020 below:
Do you find the Local Offer easy to use?
| Option | 2020 | 2023 |
|---|---|---|
| Strongly Agree | 3% | 16% |
| Agree | 43% | 56% |
| Neither Agree or Disagree | 19% | 4% |
| Disagree | 17.5% | 16% |
| Strongly Disagree | 17.5% | 8% |
I am able to find what I am looking for
| Option | 2020 | 2023 |
|---|---|---|
| Strongly Agree | 4% | 8% |
| Agree | 32% | 44% |
| Neither Agree or Disagree | 20.5% | 16% |
| Disagree | 20.5% | 20% |
| Strongly Disagree | 22% | 12% |
In 2020 1% responded Don't know/no opinion.
Information on the Local Offer is easy to understand
| Option | 2020 | 2023 |
|---|---|---|
| Strongly Agree | 4% | 24% |
| Agree | 46% | 56% |
| Neither Agree or Disagree | 30% | 12% |
| Disagree | 12% | 0% |
| Strongly Disagree | 7% | 8% |
In in 2020 1% responded Don't know/no opinion.
Information on the Local Offer is helpful
| Option | 2020 | 2023 |
|---|---|---|
| Strongly Agree | 5% | 20% |
| Agree | 47% | 52% |
| Neither Agree or Disagree | 22% | 12% |
| Disagree | 15% | 4% |
| Strongly Disagree | 9% | 12% |
In 2020 2% responded Don't know/no opinion.
Information on the Local Offer is accurate or up-to-date
| Option | 2020 | 2023 |
|---|---|---|
| Strongly Agree | 6% | 24% |
| Agree | 29% | 20% |
| Neither Agree or Disagree | 26% | 24% |
| Disagree | 17% | 12% |
| Strongly Disagree | 22% | 8% |
| Don't know/no opinion | 0% | 12% |
How would you rate your overall experience of using the Local Offer?
| Option | 2020 | 2023 |
|---|---|---|
| Excellent | 4% | 16% |
| Good | 27% | 40% |
| Satisfactory | 32% | 28% |
| Poor | 26% | 8% |
| Very poor | 11% | 8% |
We also asked for people's experiences of using the Local Offer social media, which we had not asked previously.
I find the Local Offer social media helpful in keeping me informed about SEND services and activities in Surrey
| Option | Percent |
|---|---|
| Strongly agree | 13% |
| Agree | 33% |
| Neither Agree or Disagree | 27% |
| Disagree | 20% |
| Strongly Disagree | 7% |
What we plan to do with the survey feedback?
The survey also included free text comments, we discussed these and the survey results at the Local Offer practitioners' group to draw up the following plan for 2023/ 2024.'
Local Offer action plan 2023/ 2024
- Review the parent/carer pages of the Local Offer and bring the reading age down.
- Review the content regarding Fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASDs) currently on the Local Offer Directory, Add details of the Family Voice Surrey FASD Group to the Local Offer Directory.
- Discuss and research whether to rename the Local Offer, to something more self-explanatory.
- Check whether the details of the Local Offer or a leaflet regarding the Local Offer has been added to communications regarding Education, Health and Care (EHC) assessment, in case officers and other relevant staff members email signatures.
- Review search engine results on information pages on the Local Offer site.
- Finalise page being created for parent/carers regarding support in early years.
- We make it clearer on these pages (and the website more generally) that users are able to contact the Local Offer team by email, who can respond to more specific enquiries and circumstances.
- We will maintain the current community presence.
- We will explore the benefits of sponsored posts regarding the Local Offer to maximise reach.
- The Local Offer team will meet with the SEND and inclusion teams (e.g., Special Educational Needs (SEN) case work teams, Specialist Teachers for Inclusive Practice (STIPS), Access to Education (A2E), Speech and Language, Educational Psychology) at Surrey County Council to raise awareness of the Local Offer.
- To ensure reach is maximised we will more consistently approach groups about reposting key information (such as surveys/significant updates) or tag services into social media posts.
- We will where appropriate, record video or audio descriptions on certain sections of the site.
- Liaise with relevant services (such as Mindworks, Speech and Language) about what information they provide post diagnosis and what already exists on the website. We will add or update content if needed.
Feedback gathered from elsewhere
Additional Needs Service Showcases
The quadrant based Community Connectors at Surrey County Council are responsible for promoting and raising awareness of the Local Offer in the community. This regularly involves attending community settings where families and young people are present. A theme from discussions with Parent/Carers was that they were sometimes not aware of what support is available locally. We therefore decided to organise 'marketplace' showcase events which an array of services could attend. Parent/Carers were invited to drop by at a time convenient to them to find out about each service's "offer". The Local Offer was also promoted at these events.
We have held four showcases in 2023 in Walton-on-Thames, Hale, Horley and Camberley, after each a feedback survey was sent to attendees. The results of which are:
I found the showcase helpful
| Option | Total |
|---|---|
Strongly agree | 57% |
Agree | 37% |
Neither Agree or Disagree | 3% |
| Disagree | 0% |
| Strongly Disagree | 3% |
I found out about a service or information I wasn't previously aware of
| Option | Total |
|---|---|
Strongly agree | 37% |
Agree | 45% |
Neither Agree or Disagree | 9% |
| Disagree | 3% |
| Strongly Disagree | 6% |
Further showcases should be held in Surrey
| Option | Total |
|---|---|
Strongly agree | 66% |
Agree | 28% |
Neither Agree or Disagree | 3% |
| Disagree | 0% |
| Strongly Disagree | 3% |
I will use or contact the Family Information Service or Local Offer in future
| Option | Total |
|---|---|
Strongly agree | 45% |
Agree | 40% |
Neither Agree or Disagree | 12% |
| Disagree | 0% |
| Strongly Disagree | 3% |
Given the positive feedback we've received about the showcases, we hope to hold more in 2024.
Action Cards
Action Cards are themes and topics that children and young people raise as important issues they would like action on. When 4 or more young people raise similar feedback or decide that an action card should be raised on a particular topic, an Action Card is raised. The User Voice and Participation (UVP) Team then raise the voices of the young people to get a response from the relevant services to feedback for review. Action Cards are only closed with the consent of children and young people.
Action cards assigned to the Local Offer team this year have led to the creation of the following pages on the young people's section of the Local Offer.