SEND Local Offer annual report

Here you will find the Nottinghamshire SEND Local Offer annual report.

On this page

• Introduction
• 2025 to 2026 Projects and developments
• You said, we did
• Statistics
• Updates on priorities
• Future priorities
• Acknowledgements

The SEND Local Offer annual report is also available to print as a PDF, download SEND Local Offer 2026 annual report [PDF]

Introduction

From September 2014 it became a legal requirement for all local authorities in England to publish information about the services and provision that are available to children and young people aged 0 to 25 years with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) and their families. This is known as the “Local Offer.”

The SEND Local Offer has previously been part of the wider Notts Help Yourself website, but as of 1^st of April 2026 it moved to be part of the Your Notts Directory. This new community directory brings together information, support, groups, and services from across Nottingham City and Nottinghamshire County. It is a joint venture with Nottingham City and replaces both Ask Lion and Notts Help Yourself. It also includes information from other service areas, including the Families Information Service, Adult Social Care, Communities, and the Local Offer for care leavers.

One of the key aspects of the SEND Local Offer is that it should be responsive to feedback from the people who are using the site, and we respond to individual comments, feedback, and queries throughout the year.

On an annual basis we report back to you about progress on the projects and developments that we proposed in the previous year. We also pull together a summary of the feedback that we have received over the last twelve months and the action that we have taken in response to that feedback. We provide statistics on visits to the site and finally we outline our priorities for the next twelve months.

This is the eleventh annual report and review of Nottinghamshire’s SEND Local Offer. We begin by reflecting on the changes and work that has taken place between 1st September 2025 to 31^st August 2026.

2025 to 2026 Projects and developments

The core focus of development for the SEND Local Offer over the past twelve months has been focused on migrating to the new website. Ensuring that all content in the information advice and guidance pages, transferred to the new site, while maintaining accessibility standards. We have continued to work with the Projects Team and the new website hosts around the development of the new community directory that now brings together County and City information.

New community directory – Your Notts Directory

• Following a procurement exercise the contract was awarded to Zengenti in July 2025, a software company based in Ludlow, Shropshire that have extensive experience of working with local authorities. They utilise the Contensis content management system, with integration with the accessibility tool insytful, which supports the creation of accessible content on digital platforms. The contract has been signed between Nottinghamshire County Council, Nottingham City Council, and Zengenti. Alongside this an interagency legal agreement between Nottinghamshire County Council and Nottingham City Council was signed in respect of the ongoing management and development of the new website.
• The NCC Projects Team which included colleagues from Notts City, supported with the project of migrating to the new platform and facilitated the working relationship with Zengenti. This was multi-faceted project and included stakeholder engagement, a review of service directory listings and content, platform design and configuration, migration of data, user acceptance testing, and training for administrators on maintenance of the new website and creating content.
• There are various workstreams around the governance, communications, branding and marketing, and the technical aspects of the website.
• Following an initial public consultation five potential names were shortlisted and then from that name Your Notts Directory was chosen. Branding, including theme colours and graphics were developed.

New Logo and banner

The Corporate Communications Team have a comms plan for communicating the progress of the development of the new community directory to the public, providers, workforce and councillors.

After a few intial issues with the provider log in function, the site is live and new providers can register and create listings. The official launch and promotion of Your Notts Directory is scheduled for Autumn 2026.

The new look SEND Local Offer

To help families continue using the SEND Local Offer with confidence, we have kept the same layout, colours and overall look and feel used in previous years. Keeping the design consistent makes it easier for parents, carers, children and young people to find information and move around the site.

We have also kept the Local Offer clearly linked to the Nottingham City SEND Local Offer by using a similar style, structure and branding. This creates a familiar and recognisable experience for families who use information and services across both local authority areas.

As part of this year's updates, the SEND Journey Maps have been added to the main navigation tiles so they are easier to see and access. This helps parents and carers find information more easily, understand the support available, and know what to do next at each stage of their child or young person's SEND journey.

New Features – sections summary on tiles

To allow for easier navigation and accessibility, in addition to a simple icon, each tile has a brief overview of the section content, the wording for which was agreed through consultation with the Nottinghamshire Parent Carer Forum.

New subtitle feature – aiding search functionality

We have made it easier for families to find the information and support they need on the SEND Local Offer.

A new subtitle feature has been added to service listings. Providers can now include a short description under the name of their service, helping parents and carers quickly understand what the service offers.

We have also added keywords and subtitles to pages and listings across the site. This helps the ‘Search results’ function, to return more relevant information when parents and carers are searching. This way, families are more likely to find the right services, support and advice using the words and phrases that are most familiar to them.

These improvements make searching the Local Offer quicker, easier and more effective, helping families find the information they need with less time and effort.

New AI feature

The new website now has an AI search feature, which can support parents and carers to find information quickly. The AI Assistant works in a conversational way and it will only bring back results from within the Your Notts Directory.

It will also understand that if you are asking about SEND it will take that into consideration when you ask future questions, at that time. The AI will answer your question and return results based on the information, advice and guidance’s pages with the Your Notts Directory. It will include direct links to the pages it has gather the information from and display a list of further resources within the website that maybe useful.

Your Notts Directory accessibility

We have continued to use the familiar ‘Jump to’ links at the top of pages across the SEND Local Offer. These links provide a simple list of the information available on the page and allow users to go straight to the section they need.

This means parents and carers do not have to scroll through the entire page to find information, making the site quicker and easier to use. The feature is particularly helpful on longer pages and supports a more accessible experience for all users.

How- to video guides for service providers

A range of How-to video guides are available directly from the Your Notts Directory home page to support service providers in managing their listings.

The videos provide step-by-step guidance on common tasks, helping providers understand how to add, update and maintain information about their services. By making these guides easy to access, providers can find help when they need it and keep their information accurate and up to date.

You said, We did

The next part of the report gathers some of the specific feedback and requests that were received over the course of 2025 to 2026, including email enquiries and comments, the ongoing survey on the website, the SEND Local Offer development group, other professionals outside of the group, and outlines the action that has been taken in response to these.

You said

Young people requested easy read guides to make the information on the Young People's Zone more accessible.

We did

Guides were created and are now available on the Young People’s Zone. During our meeting with the young people, the response to these being added was very positive and a welcome addition to the site.

You said

Young people requested less tiles on the home page of the Young People's Zone and that relevant information be grouped together.

We did

Sub content tiles were created, and relevant information was grouped together. This work is now live on the Young People’s Zone. Feedback from young people has been positive noting the reduction of 13 tiles to 8 on the home page has made it ‘easy to find things’ and is ‘less cluttered’.

You said

Previously parents asked if the independent special schools outside of Nottinghamshire on the Councils approved provider list are listed on the website.

We did

We cross referenced the existing service directory listings for independent schools with the updated approved provider list and added any that were not already listed. Furthermore, there has now been a directory or Alternative Provision created and is going to be added into the 'Education' section under a tile 'Alternative Provision'.

You said

Parents asked if there could be links to neighbouring authorities SEND Local Offers on the Primary and Secondary sections, for parents and carers living on the boarders of Nottinghamshire.

We did

Added links to all neighbouring authorities SEND Local Offers on the Primary and Secondary sections, specifically linking to each SEND Local Offers education sections, to ensure a smooth transition between the two websites, keeping focused on the education content.

You said

After reviewing the new look of the Nottinghamshire SEND Local Offer, it was good that there was now the option to have a brief text description under each of the main areas tiles, giving parents and carers a better understanding of what to expect, especially if you were new to the website.

We did

Following the positive response to this new feature, we added brief descriptions to all the tiles in all areas. This has also supported parents and carers when they are using the free text search box, to find what they are looking for more easily.

You said

It would be useful to have information on day centres in the 'Preparing for adulthood' section, as some young people are only attending part-time education and may need other opportunities for the rest of the week.

We did

Added links and information to day services to the 'Preparing for adulthood' section, to support parents and carers with placements.

You said

It would be helpful when looking for childcare options to have a page explaining the support available for children with SEND.

We did

We created a new page ‘Childcare for children with special needs’ which contained information specific to early years childcare providers with SEND experience, links to information about help with childcare costs and funded places and the Early Help notification with links to financial support for families with SEND children. This has received positive feedback from parents via the Parent Carer forum.

Statistics

These are statistics for visits to the SEND Local Offer covering the previous Notts Help Yourself (NHY) website and the new Your Notts Directory. During the period 1st September 2025 to 31st August 2026.

Since the move to the new Your Notts Community Directory on the 1st of April 2026 until 31st of August the SEND Local Offer sections have received 22,814 visits in this time

*New page as of 2026

Updates on priorities referred to in the 2025 to 2026 SEND Local Offer annual report.

To work with the Projects Team and new platform provider through the implementation phase of the new community directory project, which will include design and build of the new platform, migration of data and training on using the new system, ready for the go live date in April 26. Ensuring that the SEND Local Offer is designed to meet the needs of its users from the co-design exercises and feedback.

We worked with the projects team and platform provider Zengenti. The new platform went live in April with the SEND Local Offer available for parents and carers. We ensured that the design and feel of the layout was similar to the previous platform making it familiar to navigate.

All pages on the SEND Local Offer continue to be reviewed and updated ensuring the content is presented in line with legal requirements and guidance.

Maintaining a large directory of services and groups, involves us regularly checking and updating details to ensure that we are holding quality information. Our process is to contact the provider annually via email with a request to check and update the listing within a month, a second and final reminder is sent after a month, following which listings that have not been updated are removed from the directory.

The Nottinghamshire Parent Carer forum were consulted around the new feature of summary descriptions on the tiles to ensure the information was easily accessible to all users.

To continue to work with Futures and young people in reviewing the content on the Young People’s Zone.

We have continued to work with Futures and young people to review the website and content and made changes in response to this.

To continue the communications plan for the SEND Local Offer to ensure momentum with the ongoing promotion of the site to target groups within Nottinghamshire.

A new Communications Plan has been developed with Corporate Communications, which includes a social media plan. The activities contained within the plan have been rolling out and include the following:

➡️ Posts on NCC Facebook and partner Facebook Groups including the Families Information Service, Family Hubs, and District Councils.

➡️ Social media posts to coincide with specific disability awareness days and weeks.

➡️ Posts in NCC newsletters including Family Life, Schools, Health and wellbeing, Family Hubs Services, and SEND newsletter.

➡️ Posts on the NCC intranet, Team Talk and Schools Portal.

➡️ Health partners newsletters and comms, including contacting Nottinghamshire Integrated Care Board (ICB) comms for inclusion in their weekly newsletters to all GP surgeries.

SEND Local Offer future priorities for 2026 to 2027

Over the course of the next twelve months from 2026 to 2027, our priorities will be:

• Review and refresh the current SEND Journey maps. This will include collaboration with the Nottinghamshire Parent Carer Forum, young people and professionals to ensure the information is relevant, up to date and accessible for users. The updated SEND Journey maps will be launched in March 2027.
• Maintain the accessibility standards across the SEND Local Offer.
• Merging school listing where multiple services are offered into a single listing. e.g. Breakfast club, Nursery place and Primary school into one. The aim being to make it simpler for providers to update the single listing and for parents to see all provision available in the setting.
• To continue the communications plan for the SEND Local Offer to ensure momentum with the ongoing promotion of the site to target groups within Nottinghamshire.
• To provide information regarding SEND reform for families and professionals.

Acknowledgements

As this is my first SEND Local Offer Annual Report since taking on responsibility for the Local Offer, I would like to introduce myself and thank everyone who has helped support and develop this important resource over the past year.

I would like to start by thanking Phil Smith, who previously led the SEND Local Offer and has since moved on to a different role within Nottinghamshire County Council. I am grateful for the solid foundations he has left behind and wish him every success in his new role.

I would also like to thank all the children and young people, parents and carers, professionals and partner organisations who have shared their views, experiences and ideas with us.

In particular, I would like to recognise the ongoing support of the Nottinghamshire Parent Carer Forum, students from Portland College, members of the Young Pioneers Youth Forum, colleagues across Nottinghamshire County Council, and our partners in education, health and care services.

The Local Offer is shaped by the people who use it. Your feedback helps us understand what is working well and where improvements are needed, ensuring that families can access clear, relevant and helpful information when they need it most.

Thank you for your continued support, challenge and encouragement. I look forward to working with you as we continue to improve and develop the SEND Local Offer for children, young people and families across Nottinghamshire.

Rebecca Toplis

Advanced Practitioner- SEND Local Offer | SEND Partnership Team

Email: local.offer@nottscc.gov.uk

Nottinghamshire's SEND Local Offer - Your Notts Directory