Your local authority (LA) must do certain things to help your child, or you as a young person.

What your LA must do

The Children and Families Act 2014 sets out LAs key legal duties about special educational needs (SEN). You can find details of your LA online.   

All LAs need to identify and assess the SEN of children and young people in their area when they become aware that they have or may have SEN.  

When making decisions and carrying out actions under the Children and Families Act 2014, LAs must always think about: 

• the views, wishes and feelings of parents, children and young people
• the importance of parents, children and young people participating as fully as possible in decisions and being provided with the information and support necessary to enable participation in those decisions, and
• the need to support parents, children and young people in order to facilitate the child or young person’s development and to help them achieve the best possible educational and other outcomes. 

This is a legal duty under section 19 of the Children and Families Act 2014.

If your child goes to an early years setting or school, then they need to support your child – in particular, through SEN Support. If, as a young person, you go to college or another post-16 institution, then these settings need to support you too.

If your child needs, or you as a young person need (or may need) more support than nursery, school or college can give, then your LA must carry out an education, health and care needs assessment.

This assessment may lead to an education, health and care plan (EHC plan) being produced for your child, or you. An EHC plan will set out the additional support needed and the school or other institution your child, or you, will go to.

Once special educational provision has been detailed in an EHC plan, the LA has a legal duty to provide it. This is the case even if your LA’s SEN funding policies or other internal funding arrangements say something different.

The Local Offer

Your LA must publish a Local Offer containing information about all the services and support it expects to be available for children and young people with SEN and/or disabilities for whom it is responsible.

This must include not only what services are available in the geographical area but also all services outside your LA’s area which its children and young people are accessing. This will include independent schools or colleges, therapy services and care placements.

The Local Offer should not be just a directory of services or series of links. It must say clearly what your LA expects to be available in terms of:

• what schools, colleges and other settings will provide from the funding they receive for SEN
• what schools, colleges and other settings in its area will provide from the funding they receive to support those with a disability
• educational, health and care provision
• training provision
• transport arrangements between home and school, college or early years settings, and
• support for preparing for adulthood and independent living.

The Local Offer is not legally binding. There is no guarantee that a service mentioned in the Local Offer will be available. However, the Local Offer can be useful for working out whether your LA has resources which can support your child, or you as a young person, or if it will be necessary to look to neighbouring LAs or the private sector for support.

Your LA must consult with children, parents and young people in developing the Local Offer and in periodically reviewing it. It must make sure there is a way for public comments to be made and published about the Local Offer and it must then take them into account.

Public Sector Equality Duty

As well as the duties we describe above, your LA must comply with its Public Sector Equality Duty.

This means that when carrying out its duties, exercising its discretion, making individual decisions, or in any of its other day-to-day activities your LA must consciously consider the need to:

• eliminate discrimination
• advance equality of opportunity, and
• foster good relations.

For an LA, this duty extends to everything from setting a school’s budget to closing libraries. This means that your LA needs to comply with this duty for example when:

• drafting SEN policy
• implementing SEN policy
• deciding whether to carry out an EHC needs assessment, or
• deciding whether to provide transport for a child in nursery.

If your LA does not comply with the general duty then its actions, or failure to act, can be subject to a compliance notice or be challenged by judicial review.

Taking action

If your LA is not complying with its legal duties, there are a number of ways in which you can challenge this.

If you haven’t been able to find the answer to your question on this page, see our FAQs on how LAs should help.