Parent carer forums and local and national campaign groups

Key principles of forums

Forums are committed to coproduction, which is a collaborative solution focussed way of working. The key principles of coproduction are based on trust, relationship building and open communication. The aim of coproduction is to create equal working relationships between parent carers, forums, local service managers and practitioners.

Parent Carer Forums and the local authority each sign an annual Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) which underpins working together. The key principles are: Co-production, Independence of the forum, Respect and Honesty

Forums use various methods to engage with and get feedback from their membership. This can include, but is not limited to, surveys, consultations, social media, conferences and anecdotal evidence from engagement events (e.g. coffee mornings).

The forum represents these views at meetings with local services. In the meetings forums highlight where services are working well and what needs improvement based on the evidence gathered. The outcomes of these meetings are then fed back to the membership while factoring in confidentiality.  

Forums work on a variety of issues at any one time, as prioritised by their members.  The forum represents the view of parent carers of children and young people 0-25 and are pan disability, which gives them the remit to work with a wide range of services. 

The work a forum can do depends on a variety of things, their capacity, stage of development, number of volunteers, resources and membership priorities. They cannot focus on every issue or dedicate their entire time to one issue.

Campaigning activities seek to influence the decision making process, or law, on specific local or national issues. A campaign might be intensive, time sensitive, and aimed at achieving a single goal or a number of goals.

There are a variety of methods Campaign groups use (note that in some areas forums may use the same methods but using a different approach)

• speaking at council meetings on their specific topic
• organising protests, rallies or petition
• speaking to the media to publicise the issue and their campaign
• using social media to raise awareness
• involving their local MP or other public officials
• using the courts via judicial review

The benefits of campaigning are:

• Raising the profile of an issue
• Gain public interest and awareness
• Gain support for a specific cause.

Campaigns and research at Contact.

• Then forums receive their Department for Education (DfE) grant they must adhere to the Conditions of Grant which includes the following:
  • “the grant will not be used to fund any party-political activity, or to promote a particular religion”  This means that forums need to remain politically neutral”
  • “the grant should not be used for campaigning or lobbying purposes” – Link to grant information
• Forums should follow their ethos and values when considering who they work with. They should look at their Constitution or Articles of Association and follow their strategy. Some campaign group issues could align with the values of the forum while others may not.
• Forums should also follow regulator rules to see if anything prevents them from campaigning:
  • Charities
  • Community Interest Companies
• Forums may receive other conditional funding, which cannot be used to campaign.

When a campaign aligns with a forum’s objectives, they can signpost and raise awareness if they feel is in line with their ethos. Forum’s should follow their policies and stay true to their values as a group. Policies to consider are: confidentiality, GDPR and privacy, code of conduct and conflict of interest.

Methods of working together:

• Inviting eligible members of campaign groups to join the forum where they agree to work to the forums ethos and principles. This should be don in line with the forum’s Code of Conduct and Conflict of Interest policies.
• Sharing information about representations/arguments forums are making to local partners. Forums will need to consider any confidentiality agreements such as with commissioning.
• Sharing anonymised information on the impact of services e.g. survey data.
• Signpost to information about campaign groups using social media and other channels, making it clear that this is not endorsing the campaign.
• Individual members can become actively involved in the campaign. This should not be carried out in the name of the forum and there should be consideration of code of conduct and conflict of interest policies.

• HPCI Statement on Campaigning
• Coproduction, Campaigning and the Independence of parent carer forums Online learning session
• Coproduction, Campaigning and the Independence of parent carer forums session slides
• Nascott Lawn case study