Guidance for service providers

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There are two sections of this website:

  • Information for Families provides information to all parents and carers of children and young people aged 0-19 years, or 0-25 years if their child has a Special Educational Need or Disability (SEND).

  • The SEND Local Offer focuses on providing accessible information about the local services to children and young people (aged 0-25 years old) with SEND and their families.

Many different services are published, including education, health, social care, childcare, activities/events, family support and more.

Service providers may publish their relevant local services on this website free of charge and are welcome to contribute information about:

  • services suitable for children and families
  • services suitable for families with a disabled child/young person or a child who has a special educational need
  • services and activities to support young people's wellbeing

To do this you need to Register for an account

Once you have done this, see and amend your records by following the steps below:

  1. Click the 'My Account' drop-down in the top right-hand corner of every page.
  2. Select 'Dashboard' from the options that appear
  3. Click 'Manage your directory listings' to see your list of records. 
  4. To make ammendments, click on the 'Actions' drop-down and choose 'Update Record' and/or "Update Local Offer' as necessary. 

If you need permission rights to access and edit a record, please contact us.

Information for Ofsted registered childcare providers

Ofsted provides basic information about registered childcare to the local authority’s Family Information Service (FIS). Once your registration becomes ‘active’ the FIS will create a service record with this information. You will then be able to update this to promote your service, advertise your vacancies, costs, opening times, upload pictures, documents and more.

Contact [email protected] to get started or if you need any other help with your Ofsted registered record.

Please also contact us if you wish to add further provision (eg out of school care, etc). Please do not try to add this yourself. We will make you a record that you can then update.

If you wish to add an event you need to make a new record OR update an archived record. Do NOT overwrite your childcare provision record. Email [email protected] if you require further help.

 

What if I don't want my details to be published online?

By default, the Family Information Service (FIS) will publish the basic details of all local Ofsted registered childcare providers on this website. Please note that the full address details of Ofsted registered childminders are not published online.

If you are a childminder you can ask the FIS to keep your record off the Internet. In this circumstance information would still be available to be given out over the phone but would not be found by parents searching for childminders on the Internet. 

Contact [email protected] to arrange this.

Q. How can I add a new listing?

Please check if your activity/service is already listed before adding a new entry. If the service is listed but you do not have access to it, please contact [email protected] to enquire about obtaining permission to edit it.

(If you provide an Ofsted registered childcare service you will only be able to update the existing record, created by your local FIS team – do not create a new record).

 

Steps for Adding a New Record

  1. First, make sure you are signed in to the website
  2. Click on the 'My Account' drop-down in the top right-hand corner of the webpage
  3. Select 'Dashboard' from the options that appear 
  4. Click on 'Manage your directory listings'
  5. On the page that appears, click '+Create another service'.
  6. A blank form will appear in which you can provide details of your service or activity. The form divides into a number of sections, and you should fill out each section with as much information as possible. If you are not sure how to write your listing, try looking at other listings on the site and see how they are written;
    • Service/activity/event details - Give your service or activity a short title that will be meaningful to members of the public. Don't use the same title for multiple listings. Provide a short description of your service/activity using plain English to describe what the service or activity provides.
    • Contact details - These contact details will be displayed on the website. If any details change be sure to come back and update your listing.
    • Venue details - Please provide a full address and postcode for your venue. It is particularly important that you provide the correct postcode as this will be used by the site in locating your service for users.
    • Date and time - Please provide a brief sentence on when your service/activity takes place or details of when the service is open (for example ‘Monday to Friday, 9am to 6pm’ or ‘Tuesday evenings, 7pm to 9pm’ or ‘Thursday 6 April 2019, 2pm-3pm’).
    • Other details - Please provide brief details in all of the applicable boxes. Dropdown lists and tick boxes allow you to quickly select some options. If there is nothing to say, leave that section blank.
    • Images - You can upload images to your listing – this may include photos of the service, or a logo. You can only upload images that are of .jpg or .png types and up to a maximum file size of 10Mb. For best results we recommend that your gallery photos are at least 500 by 500 pixels in size, however logos can be significantly smaller. Images are virus checked during upload and will be rejected if anything suspicious is found.
    • Documents – For compatibility with the website’s accessibility options, we recommend adding as much content as possible directly to the service record page. However, you can also upload documents to accompany your service information if necessary. Documents are virus checked during upload and will be rejected if anything suspicious is found.

 

Information on Accessbility for Children/Young People with SEND

After you create a new record, you will be required to provide additional information relating to how your service is made accessible to children and/or young people with a Special Educational Need and/or Disabilities (SEND). A new form, ‘Update Local Offer’ will be available to you after your initial submission is accepted to appear on the website. Failure to provide this additional information will result in your service being removed from this website.


Q. How do I update a service record?

Steps for Updating a Record

If you already have a record for your service on our website and would like to make updates, please follow the steps below.

If you do not yet have a record for your service, please see the section above "How can I add a new listing?'. If your service has a record but you do not have permission to edit it, please email [email protected].

  • First of all, make sure you are signed in to the website. If you don't have an account, you probably don't have a service record to edit. Please see 'How can I add a new listing?'
  • When signed-in, click on the 'My Account' drop-down in the top right-hand corner of the webpage. 
  • Select 'Dashboard' from the options available.
  • You should be able to see a green circle with 'Manage your directory listings' written beneath it. Click this. 
  • A list of all your service records that are currently live on the website will appear.
  • To make changes to any of these records, click on the 'Actions' drop-down and click on the 'Update Record' or 'Update Local Offer' options as necessary. 
    • Update Record allows you to make general changes to your listing such as a description of the service you provide, your contact details, opening times and so on. 
    • Update Local Offer allows you to make changes to the information on how your service can be made available to children and young people with Special Educational Needs and/or Disabilities or their families. 

Please note: It is important to make sure both of these sections are up-to-date (even if you are a mainstream service) as it helps us decide which services should appear on the SEND Local Offer. 

  • When you click on either 'Update Record' or 'Update Local Offer', a form will appear. You will notice that this is blank - this does not mean you need to input all the information again! Just type in the sections that need to be updated. Where sections are left blank, the original information will automatically be preserved.
  • Once you are finished inputting new information, click 'Submit Record' at the bottom of the form. 
  • The information you updated will be sent to either the Family Information Service or Local Offer Team for approval. We will aim to process any changes as soon as possible, within a few working days of your submission. 

 

Advice for Updating Records

It is generally better to have as many sections of your record completed as possible. This makes it easier for families using the website to find your service and understand whether it is right for them and their family. 

Remember that the most frequent users of the site will be parents, children and young people (some of whom will have SEND). Please try to avoid using jargon, and keep language as simple and easy-to-understand as possible. 

We encourage you to add pictures, photos and videos to your record. This will help to make your service stand-out and give families a better impression of what your service can offer. If you have difficulties uploading pictures yourself, please do feel free to send through to [email protected] or [email protected] and we will be happy to assist.

You may add documents to your record (e.g. posters, leaflets, application forms etc.) in Word, PDF or PowerPoint formats. However, please make sure that all relevant information is contained in the record itself. Not only does this avoid the extra step of parents having to click through to read a document, it also allows our accessibility and language-translation features on the site to operate on this information. 

Q. What happens to my new listing or updates after I submit them?

All changes submitted through your account need to be approved before appearing on the website. Approval is processed by either the Family Information Service or SEND Local Offer Teams at the Council and we aim to complete this as quicky as possible, within a few working days of your submission.

We may amend your record before publishing if:

  • we believe there are typos, grammar or formatting problems that would make it difficult for families or young people to understand.
  • we believe the title of the record does not reflect what the service actually provides.
  • there is missing information which could have been provided (e.g. postal address, email, website)

Some reasons we may not approve a record are if:

  • the service is not directed towards families, children or young people
  • the service is advertising for a commercial organisation
  • the record contains inappropriate, offensive, or incomprehensible language
  • the service is not easily available to people living in Kensington and Chelsea (e.g. a small provider operating in a non-neighbouring borough). 

Q. How often should I be adding updates?

You should update your record as soon as any of your public facing information changes.

We will email you every three months to remind you to check that your record remains up-to-date. 

If you experience any difficulties updating information, please get in touch with the Family Information Service ([email protected]) or Local Offer ([email protected]) teams who will be happy to assist. 

If you are a childchare provider:

We would strongly encourage you to check and/or update the number of vacancies you have at least twice a term. This information is particularly useful for prospective customers wanting to know about your current availability.

Q. Can I upload photographs and images?

You can really enhance your record on the website by adding images and photographs. Open the ‘Update record’ form for your service (on the 'Manage your directory listings' page) to add images.

A small logo image will help identify your record in search results and help it stand out – you can add one logo by selecting ‘Upload logo’. Please note: Although this is termed 'logo', the image can actually be anything you feel represents your service - e.g. a photo, graphic etc. 

Adding photographs can really help users to understand the services you offer via a quick and visual representation. To add these, select ‘Upload image’ under Additional Images. If using photographs of service users, please ensure you have express written consent to feature them on this website.

If you do decide to add photos to a record, please consider reducing the image file size before uploading. Reducing the file size will create a faster experience for our users when they are trying to view the public website on a mobile device. For best results we recommend that your image is at least 500 by 500 pixels in size.

Here is some information you can consider when uploading images. 

Click here to view the accessability document.

 

Q. How can I reset my password?

Use the Register/Sign in button to visit the log in page, click on ‘Forgotten your password’.

You will be asked to enter your email address and select ‘Reset my password’.

Keep this web page open and check your emails – you will have been sent a ‘reset code’ and instructions.

Copy or make a note of the reset code you have been emailed and return to the 'Reset Password' page. When you enter and submit the reset code correctly you will be given the option to set a new password. Enter your new password (twice) and click ‘Reset your password’ to finish the process.

You can then sign in using your email address and your new password.

Please note, you can only reset your password if you have already registered. If you try to reset your password using an unregistered email address you will receive an error message. Choose the ‘Create an account’ option to Register.

Related Pages

  1. Terms

Page last reviewed: 04/11/2021

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