If your child has been diagnosed with an illness, disability or sensory impairment that needs a lot of additional support for them to live day to day, your child might be described as having “complex needs”. A child might have complex needs from birth, or following an illness or injury.

The local authority is responsible for providing any non-medical care services that your child with complex needs is assessed as needing. This could include equipment for daily living, care for your child at home, access to play schemes and respite care. To access services from the local authority, ask for a needs assessment. You can find more information on the NHS website.

Guy's and St Thomas' children hospital, Evelina London also provides information for children with complex needs.

Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND)

Children or young people with SEND have learning difficulties or disabilities that make it much harder for them to learn than others their age. Contact the person in your child’s school or nursery responsible for special educational needs, usually called the SEN Coordinator, or SENCO. All schools and places of education publish their SEND Information Report on their website. This is a helpful way for you to find out how SEN and disability are supported in your child’s school. For more information go to the Lambeth website.

The Local Offer

The Local Offer gives an overview of the services provided to support children with Special Educational Needs and/or Disabilities (SEND) in Lambeth. It includes:

• Childcare and pre-school services
• Education provision – preschool, education from age 5 to 16, and post 16 education and training opportunities,, including those used by children and young people from Lambeth who are studying out of the borough
• Health services that support children and young people with SEND
• Social Care services, including short breaks
• Preparing for Adulthood for those young people aged 14 - 25 years of age
• Arrangements for travel support to enable children and young people to attend early years settings, schools and colleges
• Sources of information, advice and support for parents/carers children and young people
• Activities and opportunities in a range of sporting, arts and community activities

To contact someone in the SEND Team please ring one of the administrators on 020 7926 9460 or 0207 926 7754 who will be able to identify who you need to speak to and transfer your call. Or email: sendsupport@lambeth.gov.uk