Nottinghamshire Parent Carer Forum (NPCF) are involved in lots of different consultations, participation and engagement activities.
Scroll down to learn more about what NPCF is involved with and currently working on.
Current engagement
1. Local Area SEND Inspection – 2023 and Monitoring Visit – 2025
Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission (CQC) visited and inspected the Nottinghamshire local area at the beginning of 2023 to assess how effective the local education, health and care services are at identifying and meeting the needs of children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) aged 0 to 25.
The inspection team:
examined evidence
made visits
invited parent carers to complete a survey
took a ‘deep dive’ into the experiences of selected children’s stories
held a meeting with Nottinghamshire Parent Carer Forum (NPCF)
The inspection outcome was that:
“There are widespread and/or systemic failings leading to significant concerns about the experiences and outcomes of children and young people with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), which the local area partnership must address urgently.”
The full report is on Ofsted’s website. CLICK HERE TO READ: Area SEND inspection of Nottinghamshire Local Area Partnership report.
Sadly, the report reflected the experiences and concerns that many families have shared, and we have voiced these concerns repeatedly in meetings with local area partners.
The Local Area Partnership was required to address these concerns urgently, and NPCF, as the official parent carer forum for Nottinghamshire, has been involved in this work.
Monitoring Visit – July 2025
Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission (CQC) carried out a monitoring inspection in July 2025 of Nottinghamshire’s SEND services. This visit focused specifically on the two areas identified as priority actions in the original 2023 inspection.
Inspectors concluded that the local area has taken “effective action” to address these urgent priorities.
Families will be only too aware that significant challenges remain, and the inspection report did highlight a number of issues including:
Inconsistencies in the quality of Education, Health and Care (EHC) plans
Most annual reviews of EHC plans not being completed in a timely manner
Long waiting times for neurodevelopmental assessments
Ongoing waits in accessing speech and language therapy
The report also explained that ‘effective action’ means progress has been made in the two priority areas, but it does not mean the problems are fully resolved or that the local area can stop working on them.
CLICK HERE TO READ: The Full Monitoring Visit Report.
As the Parent Carer Forum, NPCF will continue to share families’ real experiences and challenges in all our meetings and discussions with the local area, pressing for changes that genuinely and meaningfully improve family life and outcomes.
The understanding is that a full re-inspection is expected to take place in approximately 18 months, when Ofsted and CQC will revisit all aspects of SEND provision in Nottinghamshire.
NPCF, continue to be involved in this area of work.
Parent/carers from the forum sit on the 3 governance Boards:
- SEND Partnership Assurance and Improvement Group (PAIG)
- SEND Executive Leadership Group
- SEND Partnership Improvement Board
To read the latest SEND Partnership Bulletin update for Sept 2025 CLICK HERE
Engagement work
2. Other work that NPCF is involved in:
- Autism in Schools project (see our page on the project)
- Short Breaks Steering Group
- Partnerships for Inclusion of Neurodiversity in Schools (PINS) project (see our page on the project)
- Autism Parent Sessions @ Children’s Development Centre, City Hospital
- LD/A Children & Young People Steering Group
- Early Years EHCP development group
- SEND Local Offer Development Group
- Neurodevelopmental Assessment Task & Finish Group
- East Midlands SEND Forum
- Including Parents conference planning group
- Joint Notts/City SEND Employment Core Group
- Nottingham & Nottinghamshire Children and Young Peoples Integrated Care System Board
NPCF also attends:
- Joint Contact/ National Network of Parent Carer Forums (NNPCF) National conference & AGM.
This is an opportunity to meet with representatives from the other 152 parent carer forums across the country.
These meetings offer an opportunity to learn about what other parent carer forums are doing in the region, share what’s happening in Nottinghamshire, and exchange ideas and experiences.
- Half-termly meetings between NPCF Steering Group members and representatives from Nottinghamshire County Council.
Here, we discuss ongoing work, areas of concern, potential review and development opportunities, and plan next steps, including identifying possible people to collaborate with.
Future engagement
If you are a service provider and would like parent carer participation with a particular service or provision that you are thinking of changing or implementing, then please don’t hesitate in contacting us as we would be more than happy to assist you.
You can find out more about how to engage with us here.
If you are a parent/carer and would like to tell us your experience or difficulty, get in touch via our contact form
Future Plans
We are currently asking members and parent/carers across Nottinghamshire what they think our 2026 – 7 priorities should be.
Please let us know by sending a message through the Contact Us form.