Feedback
Feedback about the SEND Local Offer for the period of this report has been captured through:
- the Local Offer website feedback survey hosted on Your Say Southend
- the annual review survey for parent carers and children and young people
- the Education, Health and Care Needs Assessment survey
- conversations with parent carers at events and activities
- direct contact from parents, carers and professionals
- Your Local Offer Your Way sessions, at which there has been representation from SSIF the Parent Carer Forum
- SEND Surgeries
Responses from the Local Offer website survey
In September 2023 the Local Offer feedback survey was updated. We wanted a survey that was quick and easy to complete and would give us data that could easily be compared over time.
When revising the questions, other website surveys including one used on GOV.UK were looked at for good practice. It was found that most surveys were relatively short and focused on how easy it was for the user to find the information they had visited the site for on that occasion. This was made a central question in the new survey. The new survey is shorter than the previous one, has fewer mandatory questions and allows more free-text responses rather than choosing from pre-written statements. The new survey also asks if people are happy to be re-surveyed in the future.
The survey has been shared in a variety of ways:
- Featured in the September, October and November SEND newsletters (ranging from 1,565 to 1,688 subscribers).
- Posted on the SEND team Facebook (849 followers) and Instagram (728 followers) accounts.
- Printed on flyers given to delegates at a SEND Partnership event on 6 October; SEND surgery attendees, and attendees at events that the Local Offer team have been to.
- Featured on the landing page of the SEND Local Offer website
- Sent to members of the Southend SEND Network who in turn are asked to share with their membership
- Sent to school and early years SENCOs
- Sent to those who are booked onto Your Local Offer Your Way sessions but have not attended
- Flyer displayed at Family Centres
Because the survey was changed partway through 2023, the questions that people were responding to were not the same throughout the year.
From January to September 2023, 2 people completed the old Local Offer. Both of these responses were based on the old platform as it was before the new one was launched.
Question - how easy is it to find the Local Offer website using a search engine?
- Fairly easy - 0 people.
- Very easy - 1 person.
- Hard - 0 people.
- No rating - 1 person.
The person who gave it no rating said they didn't understand why it was called Livewell and asked is it Livewell or the Local Offer?
Question - do you like how the website looks?
- 0 people liked the colours used; 2 people disliked them.
- 0 people liked the language used; 2 people disliked it.
- 1 person liked the type and size of font used; 1 person disliked it.
- O people liked the photos and graphics used; 2 people disliked them.
- O people liked the choice of categories used; 2 people disliked them.
Do you have any suggestions for improving the look of the website?
“Too many clicks to get where you need and hyperlinks sometimes out of date or lead to inactive site, i.e. SSIF
“Even the short breaks application this year was incorrect dated information, and the form was not even edited from 22 dates let alone grammar”
Question - how easy is it to find what you are looking for on the website?
- Very easy - 0 people
- Fairly easy - 1 person
- Quite hard - 1 person
- Impossible - 0 people
Comments:
“Trying to find support services for a young autistic adult who is also a young career is impossible and I have no understanding why young people's services all fall under the youth offending service. Are we implying they are all criminals or that we can only access services if they have a social care or other complex need or are offending? Very off putting!”
Question - how we can make it easier to find information in the future?:
“More straightforward search, Shorter re-direction to other pages, Making sure links to other pages work. Information accurate and up to date”
“Dated information until requested as new funding so limited to each round”. This was in relation to Short Breaks information.
Question - how did you look for information on the website?
- Used the main search function - 1 person.
- Through the `I am a parent/carer button - 1 person
- The category buttons - 0 people
Question - how accurate was the information that you found?
- The information was limited - 0 people.
- It was correct - 0 people.
- It was out of date - 1 person.
- Links were broken - 1 person.
Question - Are there services missing from the Local Offer website?:
“Mental health support for young people that is actually local accessible and free. Services for young people which are not labelling or stigmatising. Services for children who are neurodiverse with properly trained staff. Respect for those with limited budgets and transport and or accessibility issues. Many parents are themselves disabled”.
“Local businesses that offer products”
Question - What else would you like to see on the Local Offer website?
“Local businesses”
“Clarity about what services are supposed to provide, what they are commissioned to do and whether staff are trained”.
“It's just a place that is only updated when SEND parents chase why not relevant, I don't think it includes any local inclusive businesses or places to visit”.
Actions already taken in response to these points can be found in other sections of this report.
From September 2023, there have been 10 completions of the new survey.
There were no commonly recurring themes within the 10 responses and reasons given for visiting the site varied. Most people had used the Local Offer before and the majority reported that they were able to find what they needed. The majority of people rated the quality of information as good or very good and liked the look and feel of the site. The majority were either satisfied or very satisfied with their visit to the site and said they would use the Local Offer again and would recommend it to someone else.
Of those who were not satisfied with their experience of using the Local Offer, one respondent felt that the information was dense and text heavy, with lots of signposting, and suggested we should guide parents through the journey in terms of our layout of information. This reflects feedback from other parent carers and is an area for further development.
Another respondent gave feedback that it did not contain any information of things to do for young people and that there is nothing for young people to do compared to Essex. This partly echo's feedback from other parent carers about wanting more activities in the local area for children and young people. The Local Offer team have identified some additional activities and invited providers to create directory records for the Local Offer, but we need to continually keep up to date with any new provision.
There is no noticeable trend of increased satisfaction over time from these 10 surveys, but compared to survey responses prior to September, a greater proportion of respondents say that they found it easy or fairly easy to find information and more people say that they like the look and feel of the website. In the past, views have been much more mixed and survey respondents commented on the poor layout and formatting of information when viewed on a mobile phone and difficulty in finding information when using the search facility. Since we have moved over to the new platform, we have not had this feedback.
The You Said We Did page has details of actions that have been taken in response to feedback.
Responses from the annual review surveys and the Education Health and Care Needs Assessment process survey
In 2023:
- 6 parent carers completed the annual review survey.
- 11 children and young people completed the annual review survey.
- parent carers completed the Education Health and Care Needs Assessment process survey.
Feedback from service users through community engagement activities and SEND Surgeries
This feedback tends to be about the local systems and processes around SEND rather than the SEND Local Offer website. Common themes of feedback from within the community relate to:
- waiting times for diagnosis
- parent carers feeling that their child or young person's education setting is not providing adequate support for their SEND needs.
- Questions around Education, Health and Care (EHC) Needs Assessment and Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCPs).
- People not knowing what support or activities are available in the local area
- Children and young people struggling with anxiety which can sometimes affect school attendance
Parent carers comment on the positive support from community organisations, in particular how helpful these can be in enabling them to meet other parent carers and feel like they are not alone.