Communications and marketing
The SEND Local Offer Team have a communications plan which outlines how we will:
- empower families by incorporating their perspectives to drive continuous improvement of the SEND Local Offer and to increase their awareness and access to information, advice and services.
- forge strong collaborative partnerships with stakeholders, ensuring families and professionals are well-informed, actively using the Local Offer, and contributing to its ongoing development and improvement.
- enhance communication and engagement surrounding the Local Offer, promoting its information and support services with families, key stakeholders and general public
- provide accessible, clear, and up-to-date information about the Local Offer and related digital content, ensuring it is easily accessible and inclusive for all parent carers, children, young people, and professionals
The team regularly attend parent carer and community events to make people aware of the SEND Local Offer, how they can stay up to date with news and events, and how they can get involved and have their say and share information with local organisations.
Leaflets and posters are used to publicise:
- the SEND Local Offer channel on the Livewell Southend website
- SEND Routemaps
- the SEND e-newsletter
- monthly SEND Surgeries*
- specific one-off events
- the SEND Information Day*
- Your Local Offer, Your Way sessions*
- social media accounts
- the SEND Network
- surveys for parent carers about the Local Offer, Education, Health and Care Needs Assessment and the Annual Review process; and a survey for young people about the Annual Review process*
Videos have been created to publicise, promote and encourage engagement with the items marked with an *
SEND Partnership Newsletter
The SEND Local Offer team lead on production of the monthly Southend SEND Partnership e-newsletter, designed to share key updates and news from the Southend SEND Partnership.
Our content is varied and responsive to the latest developments. We feature regular contributions from the Local Offer Team, wider SEND services (including Early Years, Preparing for Adulthood Team, Specialist Teaching Service, and the Educational Psychology Service), Essesx Parthership University Trust (EPUT), Mid and South Essex Integrated Care Board, and the Southend SEND Independent Forum (SSIF), Southend's parent carer forum.
Newsletter subscribers and open rates
Our subscriber base grew steadily throughout 2025, reaching 2,675 subscribers by December. 288 new subscribers were gained in 2025.
We measure open rates each month. The average monthly open rate over the year was 41.8%.
Most clicked newsletter items by month
To understand which newsletter topics are most engaging, we analysed the most clicked links in each edition. This information is available from the Local Offer team. Contact us at localoffer@southend.gov.uk if you would like to see it.