Introduction
The LBBD Special educational needs and disability (SEND) Local Offer team contacted the CX Team looking to update their current content on the LBBD website and explore having a standalone website.
The Local Offer team provide important information for people with SEND aged 0 to 25, and their families.
The purpose of having a standalone alone microsite was to have it designed with co-production with key members of the SEND community and make the information available in a much more visually engaging manner.
Initial Consultation
The initial consultation with the LBBD SEND Local Offer team it was determined that the existing content on the LBBD was outdated and inaccurate, it was not visually engaging and hard for users to find information. The local SEND community were disillusioned with the Council as they had been asked their opinion on different occasions about improving the information on the website a number of times and nothing had come from it.
The goal of the project was to have a website designed with the co-production of the local SEND community to improve the look, feel and content of the SEND Local Offer so that it provided up to date, accurate and reliable information about SEND in the Borough to families, residents, and professionals.
Planning and Research
An important aspect of planning the Local Offer microsite was having a co-production meeting with the Just Say Parent Carer Forum Steering Group chaired by Ola Isaacs, User Experience Designer from the CX Team. The meeting was important to discover the pain points of the existing Local Offer webpages, gather valuable insights and suggestions from users of the website and provide actionable recommendations to create a more user-centric platform.
The key findings from the meeting include:
- Users have expressed that the Local Offer webpages are text heavy and can be overwhelming. This also doesn’t allow them to easily scan the page for information.
- The webpages do not mention statutory requirements about the Local Offer.
- The current site lacks accessibility features like changing text size, colours and enabling screen readers. This limits usability.
- Language options are needed so non-English speakers can access information.
- Users advised contents on the microsite has not been tailored to the different SEND age group (it shows from ages 0-5 and 5-25). And would want to see info for different ages further broken down.
- Information is outdated and can be insufficient. It needs expanding, in the simplest form and void of professional jargon which is mostly only understood by SEND professionals.
- Users have feedback that site aesthetics are boring and plain. Colours, photos, videos are needed to liven up the design and draw them in.
- Ages could have own coloured sections for better navigation and associations.
- Users want a calendar of SEND events in the borough.
- E-suggestion box sought for service improvement ideas.
- Live chat or easier phone contact desired for queries.
Screenshots from the existing Local Offer webpages on the LBBD website.
The SEND Local Offer team also carried out a SEND Local Offer Website Survey through the Council’s One Borough Voice platform which echoed a lot of the findings.
Design Phase
The SEND Local Offer team provided a number of other organisations’ Local Offer websites that had elements they liked, especially the coloured boxes from the NEFLT NHS UK website. They also provided a sketch of how they pictured the home page looking like, which a lot of was carried through to the final design:
My colleague Athena Parnell, Digital Content Designer in the CX Team, had recently completed the Council’s Start for Life microsite and as there would be some overlap of users it made sense to align a number of design elements from that website, while also implementing requirements that came up in the Planning phase around the look and functionality of the Local Offer site to make both the Start for Life and the SEND Local Offer structurally similar and familiar to users of each, while giving them a unique feel.
It was important to make sure all heading, and title colours were accessible, I used the WebAIM: Contrast Checker to ensure all colours used passed the WCAG AAA standard. Also one of the requirements from the Just Say Parent Carer Forum Steering Group was for the different ages to have their own colour so it was easy to know what section you were in.
Development
The microsite was created in WordPress, with each page created using the Elementor plugin. This allows for advanced page designs without the need for coding or CSS.
I used the free plugin One Click Accessibility to make the website more accessible for users, and also the free plugin GTranslate to allow the website to be translated into the 10 most spoken languages in the borough, more languages can be easily added to the list if there is demand.
One of the requirements of the Just Say Parent Carer Forum Steering Group for the new website was for the site to have plenty of images of children with SEND. I have a personal account with Envato Elements that I used to source all the stock images on the site. Each image comes with a commercial licence which allows use on the website. There was a challenge in making sure the images weren’t just all of children in wheelchairs, and making sure other SEND needs were represented as well.
Testing
In September 2023 the CX team along with the LBBD SEND team attended the Just Say Parent Carer Forum to explain the work we were doing and why, and to present an early beta of the site.
You can view the presentation here – SEND Local Offer website Co-production PowerPoint Presentation (lbbd.gov.uk)
The feedback from the forum was overwhelmingly positive. With the parents and carers amazed by the difference between the current local offer on the corporate site and the new microsite. They loved the use of colour and images to make the site more engaging.
Launch
The beta of the site was completed in October 2023 and was soft launched so the LBBD SEND team could gather feedback at the Speak Up Youth Forum.
Feedback from the Youth Forum: They like how the website is looking with all the pictures, images, symbols, and links, use of colours, and less black and white pages of writing. Also, they emphasised the new site is bolder and easier for younger people to understand what section they are looking for.
The SEND Local Offer team also received feedback from one of the Just Say Parent Carer Forum Steering Group who was at the initial co-production meeting. Her feedback about the new site “I am pleased to say I have just visited the local offer… I must say I was very impressed… I’ll be using this frequently. Thank you all so much for listening and helping.”
The official launch date for the site was the 5th December 2023 to coincide with the signing of the Co-Production Charter by Local Authority Strategic Director Elaine Allegretti, NHS NELFT Integrated Care Director Melody Williams, and Just Say Parent Carer Forum Chair Jaime Porstendorfer.
Video of the SEND Local Offer website
Conclusion
In conclusion, the project was a big success. The LBBD SEND Team and the stakeholders are very happy with the final product. All feedback received about the website was positive, and the stakeholders feel that they were listened to.
Feel free to visit the SEND Local Offer microsite and see for yourself the improvements to the previous offering.
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