Parent Carer forum Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

• A group of parent carers who work together with an aim to improve services and provisions for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) aged 0-25 in England.
• Read more about Parent Carer Forums (PCFs): Forums – the basics.
• PCFs are members of the National Network of Parent Carer Forums (NNPCF), which is the independent national voice representing PCFs across England.

• Any parent carer of a child or young person with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) 0-25 in the local area can join the wider membership of a Parent Carer Forum (PCFs). Some (but not all) PCFs accept membership from parent carers whose child/young person accesses services and provisions in the local authority area they represent.
• Eligibility for leadership roles (such as trustee, steering group member) or Parent Carer representative roles may vary, so you should check with your local PCF for specific criteria.
• Find your local parent carer forum

• To develop parent carer participation and co-production in their local authority area. Parent carer participation is when parent carers of children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) work together with providers to help shape and improve services and provisions. Parent Carers are experts in their own children’ and young people’s lives and when they’re included in decision making and the development of services, services become more effective, inclusive, and responsive. Read more about participation and co-production.
• Parent Carer Forums gather the views of parent carers in their local area and represent them to service providers across health, education and social care to influence decision making and work together on solutions for improvements. Read more about communication and gathering voice: Communication and gathering the parent carer voice

• Find your local Parent Carer Forum here. Every local authority area is required to have a Parent Carer Forum (PCF) in England. However, in some areas the PCF may be in development or re-establishing.

• Parent Carer Forums (PCFs) are run by parent carers of children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) in their local area. PCFs need to hear your experiences. You could register as a member, complete any surveys they may be running, and attend their virtual or face to face engagement sessions and/or events. You can also share your views by simply contacting your local PCF.
• PCFs engage with as many parent carers as they can. Therefore, sharing their social media posts, events and ‘about’ information supports them and empowers other parent carers.
• PCFs vary in their set up, so please do contact them if you would like to support them or get involved. Involvement will vary depending on the forum and their requirements, but you may be able to volunteer, join the steering group, help at an event, help with a professional skill you may have such as social media, web design or apply for a paid role.

Parent Carer Forums (PCFs) play a vital role in improving services and provisions by bringing together the voices of parent carers who use them. Through various ways such as surveys, workshops, coffee mornings, dedicated events, and ongoing dialogue, forums collect feedback that reflects the diverse needs of children and young people with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) in their local area. By presenting this feedback collectively, they provide the local authority, and service providers with a clear picture of the shared views of parent carer experiences, rather than isolated or individual issues.

This approach is constructive and forward-looking: it focuses on what can be improved and how services and provisions can be shaped to meet actual needs. For example, a forum may identify barriers to accessing therapy services and then work with professionals to co-design a more family-friendly referral process.

• Read more about how PCFs work with local services: Working in partnership
• Gathering lived experience – collecting the real stories and feedback from parent carers to highlight what is working well and what needs to change
• Providing a collective voice – representing the shared views of parent carers, rather than individual concerns, so services hear a balanced and evidence-based perspective.
• Engaging in co-production and participation – working in partnership with local authorities, parent carers, health and education providers to design, deliver, and review services.
• Highlighting gaps and inequalities – identifying where services and provisions are not accessible, inclusive, or effective for all families.
• Sharing solutions – offering practical, solution-focused ideas drawn from lived experience that can make services and provisions more effective and efficient.
• Building constructive relationships – fostering trust between parent carers, and service provider which helps to shape long-term, sustainable improvements.
• Influencing strategy and policy –Helping to ensure parent carer voices shape decision making around local strategies and policies.
• Promoting accountability – ensuring that decision-makers remain aware of their responsibilities and that services are monitored against agreed outcomes

Ultimately, PCFs help improve services and provisions, not by delivering them directly, but by ensuring that the voices of parent carers are at the heart of planning, delivery, and evaluation. Their role is to build bridges between parent carers and professionals, create shared understanding, and influence positive change that leads to better outcomes for children and young people with SEND.

• Every Parent Carer Forum (PCF) is unique. They all access the Department for Education grant funding; however some PCFs may receive additional funding or grants to support them in their work as a PCF, to take part in specific projects or to provide additional services, which may include support for parent carers. 
• What each forum offers will vary depending on the level of funding they receive, the forum’s capacity in terms of volunteers and paid representatives, and most importantly priorities of the local parent carer community. However, the core principals of participation, coproduction and solution focus remain key.

• Contact administers a grant of £17,500 to each Parent Carer Forum (PCF), of which there is one per local authority area in England. The funding comes from the Department for Education (DfE) for the forum to develop and enhance parent carer participation, coproduction and solution focus activity in their local authority area.
• The grant enables PCFs to engage with local parent carers with the aim to improve local services for children and young people (0–25) with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) and their families. 
• Some forums may receive additional funding from a variety of sources; this will be different for every area which may enable them to enhance their offer.
• Read more about the DfE grant: Grants and monitoring

• Parent Carer Forums (PCFs) are not able to advocate for individual cases or complaints, but it is important for you to share your experience with your local PCF, so they can use the thematic information (information grouped by topic or theme) to feed in to help develop and improve services and provisions in your area.
• However, most PCFs will offer signposting to appropriate support or services to help you raise and resolve your complaint to the local authority or other service where they can.
• PCFs may also signpost you to events or workshops that you can attend such as training and coffee mornings or co-production activities for services and provisions, where you can gain support and share your lived experience to improve local services.
• If you need advice, you can also get in touch with Contact’s Helpline.

• Yes, Parent Carer Forums (PCFs) are independent organisations and not part of the local authority.
• PCFs are members of the National Network of Parent Carer Forums (NNPCF), which is the independent national voice representing PCFs across England.
• As part of the Department for Education grant, all PCFs agree a ‘memorandum of understanding (MOU)’ outlining the principles of how the PCF and local authority will work together.
• Local authorities are expected to work with PCFs as part of their duty to involve children, young people, and parents in decisions about local special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) services and provisions which is outlined in the SEND code of practice.
• The MOU confirms that the local authority will recognise the independence of the DfE funded PCF. Read more about how Parent Carer Forums work with local authorities.

• Parent Carer Forums (PCFs) represent the collective voice of parent carers in a local area, and they will prioritise the main thematic (information grouped by topic or theme) areas of concern
• PCFs vary in their funding and capacity, which can influence what they can prioritise.
• Each PCF has the autonomy to decide on the areas of concern which they will prioritise.
• There can be issues/cases where the PCF want to prioritise a topic, however, they are unable engage with the necessary partners across health, education, social care and the local authority due to constraints and priorities of the local area partners.

• Parent Carer Forums (PCFs) are independent organisations, and in the first instance any feedback or complaint should be addressed with the PCF directly.
• Like all organisations, PCFs will have a complaint policy which the PCF will follow.
• Contact can support PCFs to handle feedback and complaints in line with the PCFs policies and procedures. If there are concerns that a PCF is not adhering to their Department for Education grant conditions, then Contact as the grant administrators, can support the PCF as appropriate.

• No – Parent Carer Forums (PCFs) are committed to influencing for improvements through parent carer participation and co-production, not campaigning. The Department for Education grant PCFs receive says, “the grant should not be used for campaigning or lobbying purposes.”
• PCFs aim to work in a solution focussed way and in partnership with local authorities, health, education, social care and other partners to improve outcomes; their work is reliant on effective, constructive relationships.
• Read more about Parent Carer Forums and campaigning