To what extent do England's local offer websites adhere to the statutory guidance as set out in the special educational needs and disabilities code of practice?

TY - JOUR

T1 - To what extent do England's local offer websites adhere to the statutory guidance as set out in the special educational needs and disabilities code of practice?

AU - Matthews, Jacob

AU - Black-Hawkins, Kristine

AU - Basu, Arina

AU - Necula, Andreea-Ioana

AU - Downs, Jonny

AU - Ford, Tamsin

AU - Saxton, Jennifer

AU - Study Team, Hope

N1 - Funding Information: This research was supported by Health Data Research UK (grant No. LOND1), which is funded by the UK Medical Research Council and eight other funders. Ruth Gilbert and Tamsin Ford are supported by a NIHR senior investigator award. All research at the Department of Psychiatry in the University of Cambridge benefits from the NIHR Cambridge Biomedical Research Centre (NIHR203312) and NIHR Applied Research Collaboration East of England. The views expressed are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of the NIHR or the Department of Health and Social Care. Publisher Copyright: © 2024 The Authors. British Educational Research Journal published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of British Educational Research Association.

PY - 2024/8

Y1 - 2024/8

N2 - In England the 2014 Children and Families Act introduced wide ranging changes to the assessment of and provision for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). Guidance underpinning implementation was then published in the Code of Practice. Our study focuses on a key component of that legislation, known as the ‘local offer’, which requires local authorities to establish and maintain, clear, comprehensive, accessible and up to date information for children and young people with SEND, and their families, about available SEND provision. Local authorities are expected to involve children and young people and their families in co-designing and reviewing their local offer, alongside other key stakeholders, to ensure provision is responsive to local needs and aspirations. To support our assessment of local offers we first established six categories based on the criteria in the Code of Practice about expected availability of SEND-related information (e.g. financial support, health service information, accessibility information). We used these categories to evaluate the relevant local offer websites of all 151 English local authorities with legal responsibilities for SEND assessment and provision. We further assessed whether each local offer website included three common website accessibility functions. Our findings demonstrate variation in the availability of information at local authority level, therefore limiting the ability of some young people and families to make informed decisions about the support available to them. This provides further evidence to support growing concerns about ‘postcode lottery’ inequities for families and their children with SEND.

AB - In England the 2014 Children and Families Act introduced wide ranging changes to the assessment of and provision for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). Guidance underpinning implementation was then published in the Code of Practice. Our study focuses on a key component of that legislation, known as the ‘local offer’, which requires local authorities to establish and maintain, clear, comprehensive, accessible and up to date information for children and young people with SEND, and their families, about available SEND provision. Local authorities are expected to involve children and young people and their families in co-designing and reviewing their local offer, alongside other key stakeholders, to ensure provision is responsive to local needs and aspirations. To support our assessment of local offers we first established six categories based on the criteria in the Code of Practice about expected availability of SEND-related information (e.g. financial support, health service information, accessibility information). We used these categories to evaluate the relevant local offer websites of all 151 English local authorities with legal responsibilities for SEND assessment and provision. We further assessed whether each local offer website included three common website accessibility functions. Our findings demonstrate variation in the availability of information at local authority level, therefore limiting the ability of some young people and families to make informed decisions about the support available to them. This provides further evidence to support growing concerns about ‘postcode lottery’ inequities for families and their children with SEND.

KW - local offer

KW - policy implementation

KW - special educational needs and disabilities

KW - statutory duties

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85186610519&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1002/berj.3996

DO - 10.1002/berj.3996

M3 - Article

SN - 0141-1926

VL - 50

SP - 1724

EP - 1740

JO - British Educational Research Journal

JF - British Educational Research Journal

IS - 4

ER -