What is the Manchester Local Offer?

Manchester Local Offer helps children and young people with SEND up to the age of 25 and their parents/carers in the Manchester City Council area understand what services and support they can expect locally. This includes their statutory entitlements which are required by law. (See SEND Code of Practice below.)

We're a statutory service. Every local authority has a Local Offer, although they might look different in each area. In Manchester, we're a small team sitting within Children and Families in Manchester City Council. 

As well as website information, regular drop ins and a newsletter, we work with families to help improve services and what’s on offer. See our range of activity in our leaflet - 'More than a website'. 

Watch our short film about what we do

Manchester Local Offer - localoffer@manchester.gov.uk, 0161 219 2125.

Newsletter

Our regular newsletter has all the latest news and updates relating to SEND families in Manchester. Sign up through the Council's e-bulletin subscription page. Here is some guidance on how to do this. 

See a list of newsletters from the past year. 

Drop ins

Our monthly drop ins are an opportunity for parents/carers and young people in the Manchester City Council area to talk to a range of services and groups for advice, information and support. We have a rolling programme around the city. Find the dates of forthcoming drop ins.

Our Local Offer SEND Information Hub has a wide range of resources, including benefits and grants, education, stuff to do and support from organisations.

The Manchester Local Offer has an extensive range of online information. You can search the database in different ways:

• Use the search facility at the top of the page.  
• Go to our Welcome page and browse by subject, using the tiles with pictures.  

If you offer support or services to children and young people with SEND in Manchester, would you like your service to be listed in the Local Offer? Find out how to have ownership.

When you have a child with special educational needs and/or disability (SEND), you may not know where to find the information you need. See our Guidance for new parent carers.

You and your young person can have a say in the support and services you need. By sharing your experiences and working together with us and other organisations, we can make positive changes that benefit all SEND families in the city.

Find out how to Get involved and have your say.

See How you are having a say to find out some of the ways parent carers and young people are having their say to help make things better for SEND families in the city.

Find out about the Local Offer Review Board, including the Terms of Reference and minutes of meetings. 

Manchester City Council keeps a register of Disabled Children and Young People aged 0-19 years with disabilities or special educational needs. There is no requirement to sign your child up to the register, it is up to you - find out more. 

The SEND Code of Practice came into effect on September 2014 and applies to children and young people aged 0 to 25 years.

It is statutory (required by law) guidance for organisations which work with and support children and young people who have special educational needs or disabilities.

Chapter 4 explains the statutory duties on local authorities to develop and publish a Local Offer, setting out the support they expect to be available for local children and young people with special educational needs (SEN) or disabilities.

Other relevant information: 

• The Our Manchester Disability Plan
• Manchester Inclusion Strategy
• Design for Access 2

Did you know you can easily translate Local Offer web information into other languages? Open the ReachDeck facility. Look for the orange circle with the white stick figure. It usually appears to the bottom left.

ReachDeck has lots of other accessibility features, including having the text read out loud, magnifying it and creating an MP3 of the content.

Find further features by clicking ‘Accessibility’ at the top of the webpages.

Other organisations

Contact, the national charity for families with disabled children, has a language and accessibility toolbar at the top of their website or in the menu options on mobile devices.

In Carers Manchester, click the British flag/’English’ symbol to change the language. There is also a wheelchair symbol which you can use to change several accessibility settings such as font size and contrast.