A method for radio access offloading in a communications system, the system comprising a terminal apparatus served by a serving macro base station, the method comprising: maintaining (302,402), by the terminal apparatus, pre-configuration information on at least one integrated local area radio access offloading layer, wherein each of the at least one integrated local area radio access offloading layer is formed by at least one access point, for offloading user-plane packets, deployed underneath macro cell coverage of the serving macro base station and being controlled by the serving macro base station and a cellular network, the serving macro base station providing a control plane for the terminal apparatus; detecting (304, 404), by the terminal apparatus, an access point of an integrated local area radio access offloading layer; and in response to the detecting, activating (305, 405), by the terminal apparatus, a local area radio access offloading mode in the terminal apparatus, wherein in the local area radio access offloading mode of the terminal apparatus user plane traffic is carried out between the terminal apparatus and the access point, while control plane signalling is carried out between the terminal apparatus and the serving macro base station; characterized in that the method further comprises: transmitting (306, 307, 406), by the terminal apparatus via the access point of the integrated local area radio access offloading layer, to the serving macro base station an initial indication indicating that the local area radio access offloading mode is activated in the terminal apparatus; receiving, by the terminal apparatus, from the serving macro base station a confirmation indicating that the activated local area radio access offloading mode is accepted by the serving macro base station; and deciding, by the terminal apparatus, whether or not to switch to the integrated local area radio access offloading layer, wherein if it is decided, by the terminal apparatus, to switch to the integrated local area radio access offloading layer, the method comprises performing (311, 312, 409), by the terminal apparatus, offloading operation of a user plane packet via the access point. maintaining (302,402), by the terminal apparatus, pre-configuration information on at least one integrated local area radio access offloading layer, wherein each of the at least one integrated local area radio access offloading layer is formed by at least one access point, for offloading user-plane packets, deployed underneath macro cell coverage of the serving macro base station and being controlled by the serving macro base station and a cellular network, the serving macro base station providing a control plane for the terminal apparatus; detecting (304, 404), by the terminal apparatus, an access point of an integrated local area radio access offloading layer; and in response to the detecting, activating (305, 405), by the terminal apparatus, a local area radio access offloading mode in the terminal apparatus, wherein in the local area radio access offloading mode of the terminal apparatus user plane traffic is carried out between the terminal apparatus and the access point, while control plane signalling is carried out between the terminal apparatus and the serving macro base station; characterized in that the method further comprises: transmitting (306, 307, 406), by the terminal apparatus via the access point of the integrated local area radio access offloading layer, to the serving macro base station an initial indication indicating that the local area radio access offloading mode is activated in the terminal apparatus; receiving, by the terminal apparatus, from the serving macro base station a confirmation indicating that the activated local area radio access offloading mode is accepted by the serving macro base station; and deciding, by the terminal apparatus, whether or not to switch to the integrated local area radio access offloading layer, wherein if it is decided, by the terminal apparatus, to switch to the integrated local area radio access offloading layer, the method comprises transmitting (306, 307, 406), by the terminal apparatus via the access point of the integrated local area radio access offloading layer, to the serving macro base station an initial indication indicating that the local area radio access offloading mode is activated in the terminal apparatus; receiving, by the terminal apparatus, from the serving macro base station a confirmation indicating that the activated local area radio access offloading mode is accepted by the serving macro base station; and deciding, by the terminal apparatus, whether or not to switch to the integrated local area radio access offloading layer, wherein if it is decided, by the terminal apparatus, to switch to the integrated local area radio access offloading layer, the method comprises performing (311, 312, 409), by the terminal apparatus, offloading operation of a user plane packet via the access point.