Our Forum: At a Glance

We represent our members and their families at various strategic meetings across North Lincolnshire, including with the council, the NHS, carer’s support and many, many others.

We offer peer support via our social media channels on WhatsApp, we also offer all of the up to date information via these channels. Our newsletters come straight to your inbox throughout the year. We also offer coffee mornings, and successfully launched our tea time natter as requested by our members.

Your Steering Group represents your views at various meetings across the month and the year, always with the aim of shaping our local services in line with what our families need.

We hold an annual SEND conference, our 9th in 2023, for our parents to hear keynote speakers, updates from in and around our local area and also a marketplace where you can come and speak to service providers. North Lincolnshire continues to support us and we enjoy co-producing this event with them.

We hold coffee mornings, and now evenings too! We hold surgeries and workshops where we bring service providers to you. We hold an annual general meeting that all of our members are invited to attend. You can see our upcoming events here.

Assistance in finding the right sources of guidance and direction to all services within North Lincolnshire for families of SEND.

Did you know that you may be eligible for a Maxcard? The Maxcard makes days out more accessible for families of children with additional needs. Find out more here

Special Needs Jungle is an audiobook service that’s free for disabled people, with 3000 books for children and young people. Find out more here

Kooth is an online mental health platform for young people in our area – for ages 11-25. Find out more here

Keep up to date with North Lincolnshire SEND Information Advice and Support Service here

Changing Places Toilets: Standard accessible toilets don’t meet the needs of every person with a disability. See the list of where you can find a Changing Places toilet in North Lincolnshire here.

The Local Offer is a social enterprise that champions education, health & social care services from across the sectors, transforming the landscape of specialist provision – raising expectations and changing lives.

We bring Parents & Carers of children and young people with special educational needs & disability, (SEND), together with a wide and diverse range of Specialist or Targeted Service Providers.

By creating a membership base for specialist providers across Education, Health & Social Care, The Local Offer shows just what is possible when people work in partnership, with passion and with understanding.

Choice & Control for Parents and Carers is at the heart of this social enterprise.

Local Offer – North Lincolnshire

The SEND Local Offer in North Lincolnshire aims to provide you with the information you may need, or want to know, about resources, services, support, activities and events for North Lincolnshire’s children and young people with Special Educational Needs and/or Disabilities and their families.

localoffer.northlincs.gov.uk

Following a monitoring visit the DfE have said that North Lincs Local Offer website “was among the best seen”. Other positive comments made were that “the site was easy to use and had good visual appeal” and “accessibility options were very easy to use and effective”.

The Family Information Service provides free, impartial information and advice to families in North Lincolnshire.

We aim to provide an efficient, accessible information service to support parents, carers and families in North Lincolnshire.

We have a wide range of information for children and young people aged 0 to 20 and their families including:

Finding Childcare and Activities in North Lincolnshire

Would you like to be able to use formal childcare so you can work, train or have time out or to find activities your children can enjoy but worry their individual needs couldn’t or wouldn’t be met?

The Family Information Service can help!

We can provide you with a list of OfSTED registered childcare providers with experience of caring for children with a wide range of needs. We can put a childcare provider in touch with extra SEND support to make sure they have the skills and knowledge to help your child meet their full potential and are cared for in a safe and stimulating environment.

We provide information on OfSTED registered childcare providers; nurseries, pre-schools, childminders and out of school clubs on the North Lincs Local Offer website

Child Care

Here you can find contact details and also read a statement on how they aim to meet the needs of children with SEND.

If you are looking for term-time or holiday sporting, craft or other activities then why not check out our Children & Young People’s Activity Guide.

It has a calendar format so you can filter by date or venue. Activities have also been tagged with age categories and a category of SEND so you can pick out the activities that are especially aimed at children and young people with SEND.

However, if you think your child would enjoy any of the other activities the Family Information Service can liaise with the activity provider on your behalf to ensure the activity is suitable and they can get the maximum benefit from taking part.

For more information on childcare or activities for children and young people with SEND please call us on 01724 296629 or email fis@northlincs.gov.uk

Why not also sign up to receive our monthly email newsletter, ‘Family Focus’, which is packed full of useful information and advice for parents and carers on a wide range of subjects.