Nottinghamshire Parent Carer Forum (NPCF) is a registered charity run by, and for, parent/carers of children & young people (aged 0-25) who have Special Educational Needs and/or Disabilities (SEND) living or accessing services in Nottinghamshire. It is dedicated to getting parent/carers’ views and experiences heard to help shape and improve the services they use.
Video illustrating how Notts PCF gives power to parent/carer voices
The Nottinghamshire Parent Carer Forum team
The structure of NPCF is as follows:
Trustees
Forum Lead
Steering Group Members
Bookkeeper
The management Steering Group is made up of parents and carers from all across the County.
- They have children and young people of different ages with a wide range of SEND needs, and educational support.
- Many Steering Group members also run support groups.
- And a number are volunteers.
Steering Group members attend meetings with local and regional service providers, where they anonymously share the experiences and concerns of the many parents and carers they have engaged with, ensuring that these issues are heard.
For more information about our Steering Group please check out our Steering Group page.
Or if you would like us to come to a local support group, school or organisation and talk with parents and carers about NPCF please don’t hesitate in contacting us.
How can NPCF represent everyone?
The simple answer is it can’t.
If just one way was used the forum would be less likely to reach parents and carers who were not already interconnected with the SEND world. However, NPCF engages with parent/carers locally in a variety of ways so it can hear as many voices as possible.
This wide breadth of family voices and experiences are used to inform all and any feedback.
How NPCF works
NPCF works to ensure that the voice of parent/ carers is heard and makes a meaningful difference across Special Educational Needs and/or Disabilities (SEND) services in Nottinghamshire.
1. Hears experiences by:
- connecting with support groups and Family Hubs
- holding stalls at relevant parent carer marketplace events
- organising workshop/ engagement sessions on subjects relevant and useful to families with a child or young person with SEND
- receiving individual emails from parents seeking advice, who share their stories and concerns
This brings parent/carers from a diversity of backgrounds into contact with the forum, enabling the NPCF to gather a wide range of experiences.
2. Represents the parent carer voice in strategic meetings and workstreams:
NPCF ensures that the voice of parent/ carer is represented in strategic meetings and workstreams, embedded within relevant decision-making processes, and remains central to how services are planned, commissioned, and reviewed.
While NPCF works collaboratively with local authorities, commissioners, and providers through coproduction, it remains fully independent. Maintaining a careful balance between partnership and autonomy is crucial to ensuring that the forum represents the voice of parent carers effectively and raises their issues and concerns. NPCF is committed to constructive partnership working and to advancing shared objectives for improving services and outcomes for children and young people with SEND and their families.
3. Champions parent engagement
NPCF promotes direct collaboration with families to the local authority, education providers, health services, and social care organisations. It advocates for improved communication, stronger parent carer involvement, and closer connections with the wider community.
NPCF also emphasises to service providers and commissioners the importance and value of understanding families’ lived experiences to inform service development and drive improvements.
4. Encourages parent/ carer involvement
NPCF encourages parent carers to get involved in ways that work for them, recognising that engagement needs to be flexible and accessible. This includes be involved in activities such as completing surveys, participating in consultations, joining focus groups, and attending events and workshops.
Alongside, NPCF also emphasises to commissioners and providers the value of listening to, engaging with, and providing timely feedback to parent carers, including explaining what has changed as a result of their contributions and ensuring that families’ involvement leads to meaningful improvements.
5. Works with parents to establish new parent support groups in schools
NPCF is committed to supporting the development of local peer support groups, helping to strengthen the wider parent carer community. It provides encouragement, signposting, and practical assistance to new and existing groups across Nottinghamshire.
– in all the schools involved in the Autism in Schools project – the 4th year of the project is running in 2024-5 (Please check out our page about the Autism in Schools project)
– as part of the Partnership for Inclusion of Neurodiversity in Schools, PINS, project (Please check out our page about the PINS project).
This often means being able to connect with parents and carers who are just beginning their SEND journey.
6. Undertakes evidence gathering projects
– such as the Part-time Timetable Review (Please check out the page on the Part-time Timetable Review)
This allows us to collect in-depth data that captures the lived experiences of these families, providing strong evidence to support recommendations for change and improvement.
7. Works with AskUs Nottingham
– A member of the AskUs Nottingham team is a co-opted member of the NPCF Steering Group.
This allows the forum to hear the concerns of families across Nottinghamshire and identify the issues that are troubling them most.
‘NPCF work together with local and regional providers of education, health and social care services giving parent/ carer views and experiences so that this can inform the planning and delivery of the services they use.’
NPCF is:
not able to advocate on individual cases
(Though we absolutely do want to hear your experiences and can raise issues with the providers of services)
not in the pocket of the LA
(Crucially, the members of any parent carer forum are themselves parent/carers of children and young people with SEND. This drives the commitment to influence and shape policies and services that genuinely improve the lives of all children with SEND and their families. We will always stay true to this principle).
not there to act for the benefit of any individual or their family
(We represent the views and experiences of parent/carers in Nottinghamshire rather than advocating for individual families. In meetings or on boards, we speak for the broader community and their needs).
not primarily an information or advice service, nor a support group
(Though we do share information, events & resources that support families of children and young people with SEND, signpost to relevant services, and host useful events).
We aim to help future families spend less time navigating the maze.
not a protest group or in a fight
(Our grant conditions prevent campaigning activities).
We believe the most effective approach is to sit down with decision-makers and engage in robust, direct, yet respectful conversations, clearly explaining the views and experiences of SEND parents.
We are firmly committed to co-production.
If you would like to tell us your experience or difficulty, get in touch via our contact form
The wider Parent Carer Forum network
We are also part of the regional and national network of Parent Carer Forums. There are over 152 other Parent Carers Forums across England which make up a voice that policy makers cannot ignore!
We are currently funded by Contact- for families with disabled children through the Department for Education and we work in partnership with the National Network of Parent Carer Forums (NNPCF), Nottinghamshire County Council and Nottingham and Nottinghamshire ICB.
Please see our page on Regional and National Involvement
