Start with your council's SEND Local Offer: the directory every English council must publish by law listing the education, health and social care support for children with SEND aged 0 to 25. Find yours via gov.uk/find-local-council.
First, find the Local Offer
The Local Offer is the one place where the support in your area is meant to be written down. Section 30 of the Children and Families Act 2014 puts a duty on every council in England to publish it and keep it under review (s.30). It covers help in education, health and social care, and it is for every child with SEND, including those who have no diagnosis and no EHC plan, so you do not need either to use it. To reach yours, put your postcode into gov.uk/find-local-council to confirm the right council, then search that council's website for "Local Offer" (many run a dedicated Local Offer site).
Then get help reading it
The Local Offer tells you what exists locally. It does not tell you what your child can get, and that is the gap most guidance leaves open. For that, contact your SENDIASS, the SEND Information, Advice and Support Service. Every council has to fund one, and it gives free, confidential and impartial advice to parents, carers and young people aged 0 to 25, working at arm's length from the council so its advice is not the council's line (s.32). A SENDIASS adviser can talk through what the Local Offer means for your child and what to ask the school for next. Your Local Offer page will list the contact details for your local service.
If the support falls short
The same Local Offer is also where you find how to act, not just what is on the menu. Under the SEND Code of Practice, it must explain how to ask for an EHC needs assessment, how to get extra support, and how to complain if provision is not there (Chapter 4). If what your child needs is not being met through ordinary school support, the next move is often a request for an EHC needs assessment: see how do I apply for an EHCP for my child? Reading the SEND Local Offer and SENDIASS entries first will help you know what each one is for before you make contact.
It is worth knowing the direction of travel. The February 2026 Schools White Paper and the Education for All Bill propose a new support-plan duty on schools, but the council's Local Offer duty under section 30 is unchanged, and no SEND-structure changes take effect before September 2030. The route above is the one that applies today.
Where the law comes from
Related
This page is general information, not clinical or legal advice.