Why Parent Carer Forums matter
Parent Carer Forums exist to make sure the experiences of parent carers help shape local services for children and young people with additional needs and/or disabilities. Rather than focusing on individual cases, they gather wider parent carer experiences, identify common themes and work alongside education, health and social care services to help improve support, services and outcomes for children, young people and their families.
How Parent Carer Forums developed
Parent Carer Forums began to develop across England from 2008, recognising the important role that parent carers play in helping shape services for children and young people with additional needs and/or disabilities.
Their role was strengthened through the Children and Families Act (2014) and the SEND Code of Practice (2015), which recognised Parent Carer Forums as key partners in working alongside education, health and social care services to improve support for families.
Today, every local authority area in England has one recognised Parent Carer Forum, providing a way for parent carers to share their experiences and help influence local SEND services.
Parent Carer Forums are recognised in the SEND Code of Practice (2015), which says:
‘Parent Carer Forums are representative local groups of parents and carers of children and young people with disabilities who work alongside local authorities, education, health, and other service providers to ensure the services they plan, commission, deliver and monitor meet the needs of children and families. Parent Carer Forums have been established in most local areas and local authorities are actively encouraged to work with them.’
How Parent Carer Forums work
Every local authority area in England has one recognised Parent Carer Forum.
Parent Carer Forums are independent organisations. They work alongside local authorities, health services, education providers and other partners, but they are separate from them.
Their role is to gather wider parent carer experiences, identify common themes and share these with services and decision-makers. This helps parent carer voices be included when services, support and information are planned, reviewed or improved.
Parent Carer Forums are not individual advocacy services. They do not take on individual cases. Instead, they use what families share to understand wider issues and help influence improvements for children, young people and families.
Parent Carer Forums receive Parent Carer Participation funding through the Department for Education. This supports their participation work, but does not make them part of the Department for Education, the local authority, health services or any other organisation.
Their role is to share wider parent carer experiences clearly and honestly, including where families say things are not working well.
Working together locally, regionally and nationally
Parent Carer Forums work locally, regionally and nationally to help make sure parent carer experiences are heard at different levels.
Locally
Each local authority area has one recognised Parent Carer Forum. Nottinghamshire Parent Carer Forum is the recognised forum for Nottinghamshire County.
Locally, NPCF gathers parent carer feedback, identifies common themes and shares these with education, health and social care services in Nottinghamshire.
Regionally
NPCF is part of the East Midlands regional network of Parent Carer Forums. This gives forums the opportunity to share learning, discuss common issues and understand what is happening in nearby areas.
Nationally
NPCF is also part of the National Network of Parent Carer Forums (NNPCF). This helps make sure parent carer experiences from Nottinghamshire can contribute to wider national conversations about SEND policy, practice and improvement.
You can find out more about NPCF’s wider work on our Regional and National Involvement page.
