The Local Authority

The LA (Newcastle City Council) is responsible for securing the provision of services which address the needs of all children and young people, including the most disadvantaged and vulnerable and their families and carers. A priority of the LA is to ensure that education is of utmost importance in realising positive futures for all children and young people in Newcastle. As part of achieving this aim, all schools are expected to provide for children and young people with SEND, and those who are vulnerable, within their own locality area. This is also in accordance with the Education Act and all partners in the education community have a role to play:

There are many statutory functions that the LA carries out but in relation to children and young people with SEND, priorities include:

Ensuring a sufficiency of provision for pupils with SEND and reviewing this annually (place planning).
Publishing information on SEND funding and provision.
Monitoring the progress of children/young people with SEND.
Providing information, advice and support to parents of children/young people with SEND and young people themselves, including the provision of a statutory information, advice and support service (SENDIASS) along with mediation and resolution services.
Planning for the statutory assessment of pupils, where agreed, and maintain and review education, health and care plans (EHCP).

In addition, a duty for local authorities is that of the SEND Local Offer. This requires the LA to publish information about what goes on every day to support children and young people with SEND and how quality of provision is ensured. The local offer must include details of provision (both locally and outside the local area) that the LA expects is likely to be used by children and young people with SEND for whom they are responsible. The local offer has two key purposes:

To provide clear, comprehensive and accessible information about the support and opportunities that are available.
To make provision more responsive to local needs and aspirations by directly involving children and young people with SEND, parents/carers and service providers in its development and review.
To further promote the local offer, the Children & Families Act 2014 also obliges schools to include information on where the local offer is published, on their own websites