As Co-production Week, 30 June – 6 July, comes to a close, we’re highlighting the work of SEND Power in Haringey, the local parent carer forum that stepped in when vital services for families of children with SEND in the borough were falling short.
SEND Power’s work shows how partnership and co-production can drive real change — and the impact that parent carers can have in shaping better futures for their children and their communities.
Before SEND Power in Haringey got involved, many families in the area felt unheard and unsupported, and the gaps in services were having a direct impact on children’s health, development, and wellbeing. The parent carer forum fed this back to the council and decided to co-create a local charter and accompanying training programme to improve the way families and local authority services work with each other.
The charter was shaped collaboratively. Parents, local authority staff and children and young people contributed to the charter’s content and design which included holding a children’s competition to design the charter’s logo which a local SEND youth forum judged. Many drafts later the Haringey Working Together Charter was launched, setting out the values that underpin good working relationships – kindness and empathy, trust, safety and belonging. Most importantly the charter stresses that families and practitioners are equal partners in shaping services that affect the entire borough, including children, young people, education, health and care.
Everything about the charter has been co-produced, from its mission and purpose to the artwork. The Charter can now be found on display in schools and other settings like the borough’s local Child Development Centre. Wider dissemination is planned through training and communications.
What difference has the Charter made?
The parent carer forum took action by gathering feedback from parent carers and presenting this lived experience to local decision-makers. Through regular co-production meetings, consultations, and collaborative workshops, the forum worked closely with Haringey council to make sure families’ voices were not just heard but acted upon.
As a result of the forum’s involvement and the Charter, families report feeling more supported, and many say the improvements have reduced daily stress and improved their children’s outcomes. The Charter is popular amongst parents because it gives them a framework of what they can expect. But this didn’t happen overnight — it was the result of consistent advocacy, relationship-building, and shared commitment.
The forum credits some of its success to support from Contact’s Parent Carer Participation team who support the development of 152 parent carer forums in England. Contact’s team offered invaluable guidance and encouragement throughout the process which the Haringey forum says helped them build confidence and know how to frame our concerns effectively.
Following this work families and practitioners in Haringey are now working together to develop a co-production training package, which will be underpinned by the charter with the aim of being ready by September 2025.
This week is Co-production Week – a time to highlight the power of working with people rather than simply doing things for them.
Co-production means bringing people with lived experience into the heart of decisions that affect them. It’s about sharing power, listening, sharing ideas, and making decisions together from the start. That’s why this Co-production Week we’re celebrating the brilliant work of the National Network of Parent Carer Forums and all the local Parent Carer Forums across England.
Over 1,000 parent carers are involved in running their forum, working tirelessly with local services – like heath, education and social care – to make sure families’ real experiences shape how support is designed and delivered.
Together, they speak up for over 150,000 parent carers.
Parent carer forums gather and share their communities’ experiences and work in solution focussed ways to create real change; That’s what co-production is all about.
Thank you to every parent carer giving your time, voice, and insight to help make things better.
We see you. We value you. We stand with you.
More about parent carer forums
Contact works with the Department for Education (DfE) to support parent carer forums across England by providing an adviser team, training and resources to forums, and helping forums manage the DfE grants they are awarded to support parent participation in their area.
Contact, the North-West Network of Parent Carer Forums (NNPCF), Alder Hey Children’s Hospital and Edge Hill University, have been given special recognition by NHS England for their pioneering project aimed at improving healthcare access for disabled and/or neurodivergent children in under-represented communities.
The project team heard from Gypsy, Roma and Irish Traveller heritage, Asylum Seekers and Refugee communities, and disabled and neurodivergent parent carers about the significant challenges children and young people with additional needs face accessing health services – and co-produced solutions with them to reduce these inequalities.
Mary Mulvey-Oates from Contact, Kath Bromfield from the NNPCF, and Dr Joann Kiernan of Alder Hey Trust and Edge Hill University accepted the Special Acknowledgement Honour on behalf of partners for the ground-breaking initiative at a special event organised by NHS England to celebrate best practice in SEND.
Contact’s project manager Mary said: “We know that many disabled and neurodivergent children from under-served communities experience limited access to healthcare and poor health outcomes. They often face discrimination, disadvantage, and exclusion, and have less control over their healthcare choices.
“Despite the critical need, research in this area has been scarce. This project offered a rare opportunity to collaborate with community members to address the root causes of healthcare disparities. We are delighted that the project’s unique approach and the determination of everyone involved including the community connectors and groups we worked with, has been recognised in this way.”
Find out more about the research which was made possible thanks to funding by the National Institute for Health and Care Research.
Kath Bromfield from NNPCF said: “This project has been unique, driven by voice from conception to development and beyond. At every step strategic and individual co-production, engagement and co-design have been crucial to the project. Bringing a range of voices to ensure this was shaped by the communities involved, and having strategic challenge from lived experience has proved essential. This is valuable for all seeking to understand and work around intersectionality and SEND.”
Professor Lucy Bray from Edge Hill University said: “The findings from this research provide important insights into the barriers faced by many families trying to access essential healthcare services. It represents a significant step forward in ensuring that healthcare services are accessible, equitable, and tailored to the needs of all children, regardless of their background, disability or neurodivergence. We are so grateful for all the children, parent carers and community members who worked with us to conduct this research.”
Want to find out more about the project?
You can read more about the project on our website. To continue the conversation and share the project’s findings, free online webinars will be held in March, where anyone interested can learn more and discuss how these valuable lessons can be used to create a more inclusive healthcare system. Details coming soon.
The project was funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR)’s Developing Innovative, Inclusive and Diverse Public Partnerships. NIHR fund, enable and deliver world-leading health and social care research that improves people’s health and wellbeing, and promotes economic growth.
Parent carers are coming together today, 4 February, in Northampton for the joint annual Contact and National Network of Parent Carer Forums (NNPCF) conference.
Throughout the day, members from 153 parent carer forums from across England will be networking, sharing ideas, taking part in Q&A sessions and listening to speakers including:
A Ministerial Keynote address from Catherine McKinnell MP, Minister of State (Minister for School Standards)
A session led by government adviser on SEND, Dame Christine Lenehan covering current developments in SEND thinking and policy
What Works in SEND: Holding onto hope led by Amanda Allard, Director, Council for Disabled Children.
Forums work with local authorities across England to make sure that local, regional, and national services best meet the needs of families of children and young people with SEND.
They represent the voice and experiences of those receiving services. And they make sure that service providers take account of them when planning, designing, implementing, and reviewing services.
Contact works with the Department for Education (DfE) to support parent carer forums across England by providing an adviser team, training and resources to forums, and helping forums manage the DfE grants they are awarded to do the work they do.
“…They are selfless, dedicated and passionate people who put others before themselves . . the world would be a dispassionate place without our volunteering community”
It’s National Volunteers Week and we just wanted to give a big shout out and huge thanks to all the parent carers who volunteer for their parent carer forum (PCF) in England.
The unpaid work PCF volunteers do is key to helping put parent carers’ experiences at the heart of improving services and support for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) – all against a backdrop of long waiting lists for support, cuts to funding and services, and mounting financial pressures. Despite this, parent carer volunteers continue to make a difference through parent carer forums.
We asked some PCFs to tell us more about the amazing value and work of volunteers:
“Volunteers are crucial to parent carer forum because they bring diverse perspectives, amplify voices and contribute valuable time and expertise to support families of children with SEND. They help shape policies, provide vital support networks, and advocate for better services, making a significant difference in their communities”
Annila Zilic, Manchester parent carer forum
“Being able to volunteer with a parent carer forum is an amazing opportunity for parents with children and young people with SEND. Very often parent carers find themselves unable to commit to work, and can become isolated. Having the opportunity to volunteer alongside other parent carers not only enables them to use their experience and skills to support others, but also gives them an opportunity to connect with peers at a time when it is very important. Volunteering bring you so many opportunities, that are flexible, that could otherwise not be possible when you have caring duties. Friendships are made for life through volunteering.”
Last week, around 200 members of parent carer forums across England gathered together for the joint Contact and National Network of Parent Carer Forums (NNPCF) conference.
As well as listening to a key-note speech from Children, Families and Wellbeing minister, David Johnston MP, parent carers attending the conference heard examples of the amazing and diverse things parent carer forums have been doing, working with their local communities, councils and health partners.
This includes parent carers in Peterborough who reached out to different communities to create a strong representative parent carer forum and parent carers in Harrow who produced aSEND jargon buster. Or Swindon PCF, who worked with local charities and parent support groups to createa filmto help parent carers have better conversations with practitioners and Shropshire parent carers who worked with partners to ensure families had the information and support they needed when young people prepare for adulthood.
All the success stories we shared with you throughout February are a testament to the hard work of carer forums and their membership of just under 128,000, who increasingly operate in a very challenging climate.
Want to find out more about Parent Carer Forums in England?
Towards the end of the pandemic, a new forum was set up in Greenwich. Recognising the importance of reflecting the wide diversity and cultural needs of families in Greenwich, the forum quickly established a special educational needs and disability (SEND) Parent Champions scheme.
The scheme aims to eventually have trained parent carers or champions in every Greenwich school to help local families navigate SEND services and to tell them more about their local parent carer forum. There are already 30 parent champions in place who will also act as links for parents at both mainstream and special schools.
Supporting families in Greenwich waiting for an autism diagnosis for their child
Greenwich parent carer forum worked with the local authority and health services to find a solution to support families in the borough experiencing long waits for an autism diagnosis for their child.
We are lucky in Greenwich to have committed and knowledgeable team of professionals working across the local authority and health who listen to us and equally wanted to improve parental lived experiences.
We met together to think of ways to support parents while they are waiting. If your child or young person is thought to be autistic, their needs don’t stay on hold until a diagnosis is given. We looked at the issues and questions parents were raising with us and together we produced a short video which we hope provides support and information while they wait for a diagnosis.
Carol Foyle, Director and Parent Participation worker at Greenwich’s parent carer forum
Greenwich parent carer forum has already seen the benefits of working in a more solution-focused way with health services and the local authority. They are currently gathering feedback from parents of children with SEND in order to refresh Greenwich’s Local Offer.
Find out more about parent carer forums in England
The knock-on effects of the pandemic for children and young people with SEND can still be seen in the growing number of pupils who experience Emotionally Based School Avoidance (EBSA) and missing school because of their mental health and anxiety.
South Gloucestershire Parent Carer Forum (SGPC) were hearing more about EBSA – also known as EBSNA (Emotionally based School Non Attendance) – and its impact from parent carers in the area and fed this back to their local council.
As a result, the forum were invited to work with health, education and social care professionals in the area to find a way to empower schools to confidently support affected children.
The result?
A game-changing EBSA Toolkit co-produced by educational psychologists and fine-tuned by parent carers and the forum alongside EBSA training for schools in the area and an overall deeper understanding of EBSA and effective interventions and strategies in place. Crucially, parents in South Gloucestershire feel heard, understood, and less blamed — a testament to SGPC’s hard work.
Project lead and educational psychologist, Dr Helen Cox, emphasised the pivotal role of parent carers: “Parents are the experts, and their contributions have directly shaped the toolkit. Every moment in school is crucial, and South Gloucestershire is now primed to offer the best support early on.”
The work parent carer forums are doing across England varies enormously. That’s why this February we’re sharing some of their stories with you and have designated this February, Parent Participation Matters month.
Bringing the words ‘You said, we did!’ to life in Essex
Essex Family Forum introduced introduced a ‘Graffiti Wall’ and encouraged parents to pin their concerns to it when they took the wall to parent events. This turned into a virtual Graffiti Wall during lockdown, enabling families to continue to share their experiences and concerns online.
The graffiti wall was such a success it became a regular fixture when the pandemic ended. Now parents post comments on the virtual graffiti wall regularly and the forum then convey this feedback in-person to the local authority. A group of senior leaders from Essex County Council meet regularly to review the feedback and ensure that questions and concerns are addressed in a timely manner.
The forum has seen a big increase in parental engagement as a result of this initiative because families now feel heard, echoing the Essex Family Forum’s ‘You said, We did’ ethos and commitment.
Find out more about what parent carer forums like Essex Family Forum have done and their impact.
Unlocking a path to understanding and recognition
SNAP PCF, the parent carer forum in Central Bedfordshire, were concerned about the increasing number of parents telling them they were struggling to get recognition and support for their children who have Pathological Demand Avoidance (PDA).
PDA is a condition, most often experienced by autistic people, where children go to extremes to ignore or avoid anything they perceive as a demand. Unfortunately, many aspects of PDA, including its clinical definition and how it is identified and managed, are currently contested by health care professionals. As a result, parents faced an uphill battle with their local authority and services to acknowledge a diagnosis of PDA and getting it included into their children’s Education, Health and Care (EHC) plans.
The forum approached the PDA society and the local authority to see what could be done and worked with professionals across the health and education sector to coproduce a position statement to provide reassurance to families and recognise the need for extra support to children and families affected by PDA.
The position statement is now available for all families and professionals to look at on the local authorities local offer webpage. As a result, clinicians within CAMHS are able to work with parents, carers and other professionals to try and understand the individual child’s needs and tailor a package of care and personalised support. PDA training is now mandatory for any professional working for the local authority in a SEND role – and SNAP PCF are championing the training to schools and health services.
Read more stories about how Parent Carer Forums across England have made an impact.
As part of our Parent Participation Matters month this February we’re sharing some of the work parent carer forums do across England and the difference they’re making.
Bedford Borough Parent Carer Forum (BBPCF) tackled a community challenge head-on: the lack of accessible playparks for local families. Families told the forum that they were forced to venture out of the county to find inclusive and safe play-areas for their children.
“We need more awareness in all our communal areas (parks, shops). People look at us like we don’t belong because my child screams and looks different to their own child. Education and awareness are needed everywhere.”
BBPCF seized an opportunity when Bedford Borough Council’s Mayor’s Fund offered grants and successfully secured £100,000 to refurbish a playpark, turning it into a welcoming and inclusive space for children with special educational needs and disabilities of all ages. BBPCF collaborated with the local authority to co-produce the transformation over the course of a year starting with signage to raise awareness of SEND and then installing a wheelchair accessible roundabout, trampoline and a sensory garden.
“Genuinely so excited about this. I have 2 wheelchair users. The idea they can go to a playpark and play together is amazing – something I never imagined they would do. Thank you.”
What difference has this made to local families?
The finished playground, which celebrated its first year last September, not only caters for diverse needs it has also become a symbol of community inclusion. Families who previously felt they had no choice to look outside the county for a place where their child could play, now feel included and there is better understanding amongst the community of SEND families lived experience. Co-production has resulted in a wider understanding of SEND families lived experience and provided an opportunity for them to feel listened to and included in their community. The health and wellbeing of the parents has improved as they no longer feel vulnerable but instead feel safe and secure in a play park built for them.
The local authority uses the playpark as a model for inclusion and accessibility to any future planning and redevelopment, which promotes inclusion for all SEND families across Bedford.
Did you know that a staggering 128,000 parent carers across England are currently members of their local parent carer forum (PCF)?
PCFs make sure that the voices and experiences of children and young people with SEND and their families are heard and listened to when services are being planned and delivered.
Celebrating the dynamic force of parent participation
Throughout February we’re shining a spotlight on the incredible work PCF members are doing across England – sometimes in the face of enormous challenges, diving into real life examples of the positive impact forums are having and the genuine difference they are making to children and young people with SEND and their families.
“…I never really knew what it was to be part of a PCF, presuming like most, that it was just another support group. I couldn’t have been more wrong…support is hard to find, but I have certainly found it in this group. So if you don’t go to your local PCF coffee mornings GO, if you get asked to join in GO, if you see their events then GO. If you wanna support fixing a broken system then show up, not for us, but for your family. Let your voice be heard…”
Tracey Huggins, parent carer and member of her local parent carer forum in Sunderland
Every PCF is unique and work in very different ways with some relying solely on Department for Education (DfE) funding, while others raise additional funding to support their work. Contact is the DfE’s delivery partner leading on the strategic participation of parent carers, working alongside the National Network of Parent Carer Forums, supporting the development of PCFs and administering their annual DfE parent carer participation grant.
Almost 300 parent carers came together this month for the virtual joint annual Contact and National Network of Parent Carer Forums (NNPCF) conference.
The theme of the conference was “working together”. Throughout the conference week, parent carer forums attended virtual sessions on topics that came out as priorities in an NNPCF survey earlier this year.
Many of the sessions are available for you to watch on our dedicated conference page, and the highlights include:
Forums work with local authorities to make sure that local, regional, and national services best meet the needs of families of children and young people with SEND.
They represent the voice and experiences of those receiving services. And they make sure that service providers take account of them when planning, designing, implementing, and reviewing services.
For14 years, Contact has worked with the Department for Education (DfE) to support the 152 forums in England.
We do this in a number of ways. We provide training and resources to forums, and we help them manage the DfE grants they are awarded to do the work they do.
Contact, working in partnership with Alder Hey Children’s Trust, Edge Hill University and the North West National Network of Parent Carer forums ( NW NNPCF), have successfully secured a grant from the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) for a pioneering project which started this June. The project will be carried out over the next year and is focused on communities in the North West.
The research aims
Some disabled and neurodiverse children and young people from under-represented communities experience barriers accessing health care. Our research aims to investigate and co-produce solutions to reduce these barriers.
What difference could this research project make?
Helping under-represented communities
We know that many disabled and neurodivergent children and young people from under-served communities have less access to healthcare and have poorer health outcomes.
Children, young people and families from communities such as Black, Asian and minority ethnic groups and Traveller communities can face discrimination, disadvantage and exclusion and have less choice and control about their health care.
Improving access to health care
So far, research in this area has been limited. The project offers a unique and prestigious opportunity for Contact to work in partnership with community members to investigate what gets in the way of, and what could improve, access to health care for disabled and neurodivergent children, young people and their parent/carers.
The work we do thanks to this funding will help researchers, charities and services work out ways to work with under-served and under-represented communities and find out the most important areas to look at and solutions to test as part of a future grant.
What will the project involve?
There are four distinct phases to this project:
Phase 1: We will work with existing parent carer forums in the North-West to find out some of the communities facing the biggest challenge in being listened to and getting access to the health care they need.
Phase 2: We’ll spend time working with people – community connectors – within three or four communities identified in phase 1 to develop some good ways of working with children, young people, and their families from these communities.
Phase 3: Is all about listening to families and communities, We will start to build a detailed picture of the reasons children, young people and their families in our identified communities aren’t able to access the healthcare they need.
Phase 4: The final phase of the project will be about deciding with communities how they want to work together in the future and what each specific community thinks is most important to help improve disabled and neurodivergent children and young people’s access to healthcare.
Building relationships, reaching out to underrepresented communities and inclusivity training for SENCOs.
As the Department for Education’s delivery partner supporting strategic parent carer participation in England, we like to shout about the amazing work parent carer forums do every day across the country.
Firstly, congratulations to Blackburn with Darwen Parents in Partnership for their great work on their area’s Disability Information Day. This event brought together children and adults with local providers, such as the NHS and other voluntary services. The event helped the forum meet parent carers, increase their membership, promote their role, and build relationships with local partners.
A big thank you to Westminster Parents Participation Group, Brighton Parent Carers’ Council, and Swindon SEND Families Voice. They came together to share some of the ways they have reached out to their underrepresented communities. We recorded the session, which you can now watch it on our Youtube channel.
And finally, congratulations to the forum in Liverpool Parents and Carers (LivPac). They have been nominated for a ‘National Diversity Award’ in the ‘community organisations for disability’ section. Find out more about these awards, nominate an organisation or cast a vote. If any other forums have also been nominated, please let us and other forums know.
Forums make sure that local, regional, and national services best meet the needs of families of children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).
They represent the voice and experiences of those receiving services. And they make sure that service providers take account of them when planning, designing, implementing, and reviewing services.
How does Contact support parent carer forums?
For14 years, Contact has worked with the Department for Education (DfE) to support the 152 forums in England.
We do this in a number of ways. We provide training and resources to forums, and we help them manage the DfE grants they are awarded to do the work they do.
At the conference, forum members took part in a number of sessions on topics, like SEND law and planning the recovery in children’s community services.
Visit our participation YouTube channel to view some of the sessions that took place at this year’s conference. Some of the videos will be useful even if you’re not in a forum.
Read the latest parent participation annual report.
The National Parent Carer Participation conference organised by Contact and the National Network for Parent Carer Forums (NNPCF) kicks off today, Tuesday, 31 January.
The theme of the #LetsParticipate23 conference is Reconnection, Resilience & Renewal. It includes three virtual conference days followed by a face-to-face meet-up in Bristol at the end of February.
It’s an opportunity for parent carers from up to 152 parent carer forums across England to attend presentations and workshops. And it’s a chance to share challenges, ideas, and co-production opportunities.
The action-packed conference includes sessions led by NHS England to talk about the challenges families face accessing community-based services, like ADHD and paediatric services, in the wake of the Covid 19 pandemic. There will be an address from Claire Coutinho, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Minister for Children, Families and Wellbeing).
Forums have risen to the challenge of the last few years
“This year’s conference is a true celebration of how forums continue to come together through the incredibly tough times we’ve seen recently. The impact of the pandemic is still felt by many families caring for a child with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). At the same time, the cost of living crisis has created even more stresses for families already struggling to get by.
“There’s no doubt that the last few years have tested the resilience of parent carer forums, their leaders and members alike. But forums have risen to the challenge, and despite everything there are now officially over 110,000 members involved in PCFs across England. As well as the opportunity to gain more knowledge and ideas and to share their experiences, the conference is a chance to celebrate everyone involved in parent carer forums. We’re really looking forward to reconnecting at what promises to be an engaging and informative few days.”
Carolyn Deveney, Head of Parent Carer Participation at Contact
Parent carer forums work locally with strategic partners colleagues in education, health, social care, and other local organisations. They work to ensure that services best meet the needs of families of children and young people with SEND. They represent the voice and experiences of those receiving services. And they make sure that service providers take account of them when planning, designing, implementing, and reviewing services.
The NNPCF is the national umbrella organisation of which all local forums are members. It represents the combined voice of local forums and regional forum networks. That’s over 110,000 parent carers involved in forums feeding in at Government level.
Tina Emery, co-chair of the NNPCF, said: “This is the 14th year that the NNPCF and Contact have worked together and with parent carer forums across England to amplify the experiences of those caring for a disabled child. It feels right that the theme for this year’s conference is Reconnection, Resilience & Renewal.
“The last few years have been so difficult. The effects of the pandemic are still being felt by families who care for a child with SEND. This makes the role of parent carer forums more important than ever.”
Our video, ‘What is a parent carer forum and what do they do?’, explains more about parent carer forums, parent participation. It explains how parents across England are helping improve local and national services for children with SEND.
It’s National Volunteers’ Week (1-7 June) and we just wanted to say a massive THANK YOU to the thousands of parents who volunteer as part of their local parent carer forum.
Parent carer forums work in partnership with local authorities, education settings, health providers and others to make sure services in their area meet the needs of children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) and their families.
The volunteers that run forums carry out a wide range of activities. Whether it’s representing parent experiences at local authority or health provider meetings, running events or offering a warm welcome to new members, the unpaid work they do is core to helping forums reach out to their communities and reduce isolation while pushing for service improvements for families of children and young people with SEND.
We asked parent carers what they like best about volunteering for their local parent carer forum and here’s what they said:
“I feel like putting my energy into changing things for the future helped me deal with the present. I learnt so many strategies that helped at the time, and still do.”
“What I like most about volunteering is meeting other parents/carers and feeling like I’ve made their day just that bit easier by listening to them and letting them know they aren’t alone and pointing them in the right direction to find the support they need.”
“I chose to become a committee member, first and foremost I think it’s important that all SEND parents and carers are informed of all the help and support that is available to them. I also believe that as a collective voice we have a much greater chance of making real changes to improve ours and future children’s lives for the better.”
“I became a member as I want to make a difference in my area and how SEND is done in my area to the best of my knowledge, and get what’s right for parents and young people.”
We are delighted to let you know that the Department for Education (DfE) has awarded Contact and partners National Network of Parent Carer Forums (NNPCF), Council for Disabled Children and KIDS, a new contract to make sure parent carers, children and young people are involved in the delivery of SEND services and provision in England and have access to information advice and support.
The DfE funding means that over the next three years Contact will continue to work with 152 parent carer forums in England to make sure their voices are heard at a local, regional and national level. The new contract which starts this month, also enables us to continue our support offer to families with disabled children through our online information and national helpline.
The Council for Disabled Children will continue to support the Information, Advice and Support Network and will, alongside KIDS be supporting children and young people’s participation in local, regional and national policy and practice.
Gail Walshe, Contact’s director of participation says: “It’s great that The DfE continues to recognise the importance of having parent carers, children and young people at the heart of shaping disabled children’s services, the invaluable support of our online and helpline advice service and local SEND Information, Advice and Support Services (SENDIASS).
“Contact has acted as the delivery partner to the DfE to support parent carer forums since 2008. Our new contract enables us to build on this and to also reach even more parent carers with our high-quality impartial information and advice. We look forward to working jointly with our consortium partners to improve the links between parent carer and children and young people’s forums so that more children and young people have an active voice in decision-making in their local areas.”
Contact will lead the work carried out by the consortium in this new contract which aims to:
Empower children and young people with special educational needs and disability (SEND) and their parents and carers to make informed choices about the services available to them and support them to influence SEND policy at local, regional and national level so that services and provision are designed and delivered in a way that works for them
Develop parent carer forum and children and young people’s participation at a local level and improve their strategic participation in regional and national SEND policy and delivery
Support the provision of high-quality information, advice and support for families whose children have SEND, including through a national helpline
Provide training, development and support to Local SENDIASS and
Administer grants to 152 parent carer forums across England.
Children and Families Minister Will Quince said:“Contact and their partners do fantastic work to make sure parent carers and young people are directly involved in how local SEND services work for them.
“This new government contract and grant funding, of over £17 million for three years, will support Contact’s work and make sure parents and young people’s voices continue to be heard at a local, regional and national level.
“Together we can make sure that all parents and carers, regardless of their child’s needs, have access to the advice and support they need to better succeed in life.”
How Contact supports parent carer forums
Contact helps to empower 152 parent carer forums and their membership of over 97,000 parent carers across England, to influence local, regional and national services and legislation. Find out more about our parent participation work and parent carer forums.
About our information and advice service
Our national information and advice service includes our website, social media channels, telephone helpline and live chat. Last year our helpline-online advice provided advice to 10,644 families, with invaluable information on a range of issues including financial support and getting help for a child in school. Find out more about our helpline and online advice service.
Get the latest SEND updates, benefits advice, practical help caring for your child, plus free workshops and family events in our weekly email newsletter.
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cookielawinfo-checbox-functional
11 months
The cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional".
cookielawinfo-checbox-others
11 months
This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other.
cookielawinfo-checkbox-advertisement
1 year
Set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin, this cookie records the user consent for the cookies in the "Advertisement" category.
cookielawinfo-checkbox-necessary
11 months
This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-performance
11 months
This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance".
CookieLawInfoConsent
1 year
CookieYes sets this cookie to record the default button state of the corresponding category and the status of CCPA. It works only in coordination with the primary cookie.
PHPSESSID
session
This cookie is native to PHP applications. The cookie stores and identifies a user's unique session ID to manage user sessions on the website. The cookie is a session cookie and will be deleted when all the browser windows are closed.
viewed_cookie_policy
11 months
The cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. It does not store any personal data.
Functional cookies help to perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collect feedbacks, and other third-party features.
Cookie
Duration
Description
_hjAbsoluteSessionInProgress
30 minutes
Hotjar sets this cookie to detect a user's first pageview session, which is a True/False flag set by the cookie.
Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.
Cookie
Duration
Description
_gat
1 minute
Google Universal Analytics sets this cookie to restrain request rate and thus limit data collection on high-traffic sites.
Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.
Cookie
Duration
Description
_fbp
3 months
Facebook sets this cookie to display advertisements when either on Facebook or on a digital platform powered by Facebook advertising after visiting the website.
_ga
1 year 1 month 4 days
Google Analytics sets this cookie to calculate visitor, session and campaign data and track site usage for the site's analytics report. The cookie stores information anonymously and assigns a randomly generated number to recognise unique visitors.
_ga_*
1 year 1 month 4 days
Google Analytics sets this cookie to store and count page views.
_gid
1 day
Google Analytics sets this cookie to store information on how visitors use a website while also creating an analytics report of the website's performance. Some of the collected data includes the number of visitors, their source, and the pages they visit anonymously.
_hjFirstSeen
30 minutes
Hotjar sets this cookie to identify a new user’s first session. It stores the true/false value, indicating whether it was the first time Hotjar saw this user.
CONSENT
2 years
YouTube sets this cookie via embedded YouTube videos and registers anonymous statistical data.
Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns. These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads.
Cookie
Duration
Description
_fbp
3 months
Facebook sets this cookie to display advertisements when either on Facebook or on a digital platform powered by Facebook advertising after visiting the website.
test_cookie
15 minutes
doubleclick.net sets this cookie to determine if the user's browser supports cookies.
VISITOR_INFO1_LIVE
5 months 27 days
YouTube sets this cookie to measure bandwidth, determining whether the user gets the new or old player interface.
YSC
session
Youtube sets this cookie to track the views of embedded videos on Youtube pages.
