News

Consultation closed 18 January 2024 This consultation seeks views on revised versions of the non-statutory elective home education (EHE) guidance for local authorities and parents. The EHE guidance was last updated in 2019 and is due for review. Both sets of guidance are a vital resource for parents and local authorities to help them understand… Read more: Elective home education consultation

Parliamentary consultation , closes 02 January 2024 The Levelling Up, Housing and Communities Committee is looking at how better planning and urban design in England could enhance the health and well-being of children and young people. It will look at how children and young people can use outside public spaces and move around their neighbourhoods:… Read more: Children, young people and the built environment

Ros Luff is one of the NNPCF regional representatives for the London region, and has now served nearly 4 years and has completed her first term in office.  In line with our policies and procedures, we now have an opportunity to re-tender her position. Ros would like to continue in her role, and we need… Read more: London region update

Sarah Clarke, the South East regional representative and steering group member for the NNPCF, has now served nearly 4 years and has completed her first term in office.  In line with our policies and procedures, we now have an opportunity to re-tender her position. Sarah would like to continue in her role, and we need… Read more: South East update

On 6th November 2023, our co chairs met with the Permanent Secretary at the Department for Education, Susan Acland-Hood.Susan is the most senior civil servant within the Department for Education ( DfE) .This was the NNPCF’s first meeting with Susan Acland-Hood, which went very well and provided an opportunity to raise the profile of the… Read more: Co chairs meet Susan Acland-Hood

We have received the following communication from the Association of Educational Psychologists. EPs will be taking industrial action (striking) this winter.Why?Every year, tens of thousands of children and young people and their families are helped by an educational psychologist (EP).EPs work with education professionals in nurseries, schools and other settings and with colleagues in youth… Read more: Educational Psychologist strike action

Our joint virtual conference with Contact will take place on 14, 15 and 16 November. We have planned the conference on the survey results we received from our membership. We are pleased to share that this conference will take place via Microsoft Teams. This change from our usual Zoom platform and has been made due… Read more: Working Together virtual conference 2023

Neurodiversity means that across the population there is variation in people’s brains. Having people in society who see the world differently and have unique skills is an important part of life to be celebrated. The term “neurodivergent” refers to people whose brains work differently to the typical cultural standards. Neurodivergence includes conditions that people are… Read more: NHS Childhood Neurodiversity workshops

Academies regulatory and commissioning review The NNPCF have recently been involved in the development of the DfE Commissioning Guidance in the academies regulatory and commissioning review which is available to read below Commissioning High-Quality Trusts The following publication explains how the Department for Education takes decisions about the creation, consolidation and growth of academy trusts

We would like to welcome Jo Harrison, from Essex Family Forum to the East of England representative role. On her appointment Jo said, ”I am excited to be joining the NNPCF steering Group, representing the eleven Parent Carer Forums of the East of England. As well as working for my local PCF, Essex Family Forum, I… Read more: New Steering Group member for the East of England

The Change Programme Partnership was launched last month in London with representatives from the Department for Education (DfE), the REACh Consortium, Local Areas involved in the Change Programme Partnership, the NNPCF Co-Chairs and other Parent Carer Forum representatives. The launch introduced the delivery partner the REACh Consortium, a team formed of four organisations; PA Consulting,… Read more: SEND & AP Change Programme Launched

In response to the concerns being raised by PCFs recently about the SEND work, Delivering Better Value for SEND (DBV), Department for Education (DfE) advisors and in particular the Change Programme Partnership (CPP) our co-chairs arranged a meeting with the DfE on 11 September. The NNPCF had been made aware that there was a change… Read more: DBV update

In December 2022, we informed you of a new programme, funded by Health Education England called the National Autism Peer Education Programme. The lead organisation for this programme was announced as the National Autistic Society (NAS) and whilst we informed you of the programme, it was in very early development, and we wanted to update… Read more: NNPCF Autism Central update

On 31 Aug 2023 we learnt that a new minister for Children, Families and Wellbeing had been appointed, David Johnston OBE. Co-chairs Tina Emery and Sarah Clarke had an introductory meeting with the minister on 5 September. The meeting went very well, giving Tina and Sarah a chance to highlight the importance of parent carer… Read more: Co-chairs meet the new Minister for Children, Families and Wellbeing

On 5th September 2023, NNPCF co-chairs Tina Emery, and Sarah Clarke, took part in the Attendance Action Alliance meeting, chaired by Gillian Keegan MP, Secretary of State for Education. At the start of this academic year, the alliance renewed its pledges at 10 Downing Street, to support children and young people to get back into… Read more: Attendance Action Alliance

Over a thousand more children and young people with SEND are set to benefit from access to high-quality specialised learning, with seven new special free schools in Cambridgeshire, Kent, Merton and Norfolk selected to be built alongside the existing 83 already committed to opening, located across England from Devon to Darlington. Once complete, this investment… Read more: Government announces more support for children with SEND

Our consultation update includes the current live government consultations, which can be completed by forums or as an individual parent carer. More details on each consultation and parliamentary inquiry can be found below: Working Together to Safeguard Children is the multi-agency statutory guidance that sets out expectations for the system that provides help, support and… Read more: Consultation update

Welcome to the Participation Summer update. In June, our team came together, in person or online for our annual National Representative day, which this year was in London. We started the day with a quick team building exercise, then our co chair, Tina Emery gave an update on the areas of work that the NNPCF… Read more: Participation news

Messages from the eight Local Area SEND inspection reports published July 2023 We have received feedback regarding the eight area’s who have been recently inspected under the new framework. The report highlights that co production is crucial and lies at the heart of everything that is going well. There are two evaluation criteria in the… Read more: Co-production and SEND Inspections

On Friday 30 June, Integrated Care Boards (ICBs) published their Joint Forward Plans. These outline their priorities and strategies for the next five years. This will be a key document for the development and delivery of health and care services including for children with SEND. Parent Carer Forums should review the plans published by their… Read more: Integrated Care Boards Joint Forward Plan

Free NHS eye tests for children and young people who attend special schools will be introduced from next year. The NNPCF have been part of an ongoing piece of work as part of the NHS Long Term Plan where Sensory Checks (sight, hearing and dental) are to be put in place for children and young… Read more: Free NHS eye tests in special schools introduced

The Children’s Commissioner has expressed her concerns about lack of support for children with Special Educational Needs in mainstream education and long waiting times for EHCPs as demand reaches new highs. The NNPCF, welcome this report, which has confirmed what we have said for quite some time, that the 2014 reforms had good intentions, but… Read more: Commissioner calls for radical rehaul of the SEND system

Earlier this month co-chairs Tina Emery, Mrunal Sisodia, with the incoming co-chair Sarah Clarke, met with Attendance Action Alliance, chaired by Minster Gillian Keegan, as Secretary of State for Education. This meeting had a keen focus on those children and young people who are Children in Need (CIN) and SEND, and the impact of low… Read more: Attendance Action Alliance

Co-chairs Tina Emery, Mrunal Sisodia, with the incoming co-chair Sarah Clarke, recently met with SEND AP Implementation Board. Which was chaired by Minster Claire Coutinho. This was the first meeting to be held. The Board will be jointly chaired by the children’s Minster Claire Coutinho and the mental health Minster Maria Caulfield.  The Board is… Read more: SEND AP Implementation Board

We are super proud to share that our excellent co chair Tina Emery has been awarded an OBE for services to Children and Young People with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities in King Charles Birthday honours list. On receiving the news Tina said, ‘This has come as a bit of a surprise. I didn’t ever… Read more: NNPCF co chair, Tina Emery,receives OBE

There are lots of opportunities for forums to represent the experiences of their members! More details on each consultation and parliamentary inquiry can be found below. Currently open inquiries and consultations that may be of interest to forums and included in this briefing: Improving support for children missing education The Department for Education is seeking… Read more: May Consultation briefing

The Communications Access Symbol is an initiative developed in partnership by charities and organisations that share a vision to improve the lives of people with communication difficulties. The communication access symbol scheme is led by the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists and was coproduced with a number of stakeholders including the NNPCF. A… Read more: NNPCF become accredited with the Communications Access Symbol

The Department for Education has recently launched a Call for Evidence on Improving Support for Children Missing Education. Children missing education (CME) are children of compulsory school age who are not registered pupils at a school and are not receiving suitable education otherwise than at school (for example, through elective home education). This comprises a… Read more: Call for Evidence on Improving Support for Children Missing Education

The NHS recently published guidance on key roles within Integrated Care Boards (ICBs) that have direct relevance to the work of parent carer forums. You can find the document here: NHS England » Executive lead roles within integrated care boards The purpose of these roles is to ensure that the core responsibilities of ICBs when… Read more: NHS publishes guidance for executive lead roles in ICBs

Sarah Clarke appointed NNPCF Co-Chair as Mrunal Sisodia steps down We are delighted to announce that Sarah Clarke, steering group member for the South East, has been elected as NNPCF Co-Chair by the board at a meeting on Tuesday 25 April. Sarah has served on the steering group for the last three years. This means that… Read more: New NNPCF Co-Chair

Phase two report published on abuse in residential special schools in Doncaster This report has been shared by our colleagues at the Council for Disabled Children. Yesterday, Thursday 20 April, The Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel published the phase two report on safeguarding children and young people with disabilities and complex health needs in residential… Read more: Safeguarding children with disabilities in residential settings

Our 2022/23 conference this year was a two part event, with a digital offering as well as an in person conference in Bristol. Face-to-face conference Our face-to-face conference was held on 28 February 2023 at the Double Tree by Hilton in Bristol City Centre. The day was jointly organised and facilitated jointly the Contact and NNPCF… Read more: NNPCF & Contact joint conference 2023

The DfE recently published the Academies Regulatory and Commissioning Review which aims to set out a ‘framework for growing the impact of the academies system, so parents and carers can be confident that their child will receive a high-quality education wherever they live.’ You can find the review here Academies regulatory and commissioning review –… Read more: DfE publishes Academies Regulatory and Commissioning Review

We have moved to a virtual office, where anything sent via the post will be forwarded to our Companies House Registered alternative inspection address. Our new virtual address is: National Network of Parent Carer Forums C.I.C. 124 City Road London EC1V 2NX

The Department for Education has announced that eight new areas of the country will receive funding to deliver the short breaks programme, giving children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) a chance to take part in unforgettable activities and develop vitals skills, while giving their families a chance to rest and recoup. The government… Read more: Disabled children to benefit from funding for short breaks

There are lots of opportunities for forums to represent the experiences of their members this month. More details on each consultation and parliamentary inquiry can be found below. The NNPCF is also looking for individual parents to help with our case studies, that we can use when working with the Department of Education and other… Read more: March consultation briefing

Earlier this week, our co-chairs Tina Emery and Mrunal Sisodia met with the Minister for the School System, Baroness Barran, to discuss the Academies Regulation and Commissioning Review. The meeting covered the NNPCF’s input into the Academies Regulation and Commissioning Review . This group has been looking at the accountability framework for academies. The current… Read more: Academies Regulation and Commissioning Review

Today, the government has published its long awaited response to the SEND Green Paper, the SENDAP Improvement Plan. The plan outlines the steps that the government will be taking over the next few years to address the problems in the SEND system that have resulted in poor experiences for many children, young people (CYP) and… Read more: Special Educational Needs and Disability and Alternative Provision (SENDAP) Improvement Plan published

NHS England has published the new Dynamic Support Register (DSR) and Care (education) and Treatment Review C(E)TR policy February 2023 At the end of January, NHSE published its new DSR and CETR policy. You can find a link to it here: PR1486-Dynamic-support-register-and-Care-Education-and-Treatment-Review-policy-and-guide.pdf (england.nhs.uk) There is also an easy read version here: Easy-read-version-of-the-Dynamic-support-register-and-Care-Education-and-Treatment-Review-policy-and-guide-Jan.pdf (england.nhs.uk) The policy… Read more: New NHS England policy published

Dynamic support register and Care (Education) and Treatment Review  NHS England has a new policy to help people with learning difficulties and autism get the right support for their mental health at home instead of in hospital which will be implemented from 1st May 2023. Dynamic support registers DSRs – Local areas must create a… Read more: February Policy briefing

On the 2 February, the government published its response to the Independent Review into Children’s Social Care chaired by Josh MacCallister. You can find a link to the government response, Stable Homes, Built on Love here: Children’s social care stable homes built on love consulation (publishing.service.gov.uk)  You can read our submission here: https://nnpcf.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Social-Care-consulation-response.pdf Alongside the… Read more: Government publishes response to the Children’s Social Care Review 

NNPCF Priorities for the coming year At our AGM on 31 January, we asked forums to help co-produce our priorities and strategic work for the upcoming year. We really value the input of parent carer forums in shaping the future for the NNPCF. If you missed the AGM you can fill in our poll to… Read more: February Consultation briefing

On Tuesday 10 January 2023, The NNPCF Steering Group (SG) met with the Minister for Children, Families and Wellbeing, Clare Coutinho, via Teams. This was the first time the minister had met the SG and we wanted to inform her what we had been hearing from our forum membership. It was an excellent opportunity to… Read more: Meeting the Minister for Children, Families and Wellbeing

The agenda for our face to face conference in Bristol on 28 February has now been confirmed. The conference opens at 10.30am, with the event starting at 11am There will be light refreshments available on arrival. 11.00-11.20 Welcome and introductions 11.20-12.00 Keynote from Ofsted – SEND and inspections – the new local area inspection framework… Read more: Bristol Conference Update

The NNPCF has recently submitted its response to the Hewitt review on Integrated Care Systems (ICSs).  The review asked questions around policy, targets, data and performance monitoring.  The NNPCF is keen to ensure children and young people with special educational needs are visible in the health system, and our response to the Hewitt reviews reflected key… Read more: The Hewitt review

January 31, February 1 and February 2 Our joint virtual conference with Contact has now been finalised The details and booking links can be found below: Tuesday 31 January 10am – 10.30am Introduction to the virtual conference Join your conference hosts Tina Emery and Mrunal Sisodia from the NNPCF and Carolyn Deveney from Contact as… Read more: NNPCF and Contact Virtual Conference news

We are delighted to share that our former Co-Chair, Maureen Morris, has been awarded an OBE for services to parent carers of children and young people with SEND in the New Year Honours List 2023. You can see the list on the government’s website: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/new-year-honours-list-2023-cabinet-office

A reminder that this year’s annual conference will be a two part event. Based on your feedback, we will be holding series of virtual workshops between 28 January and 1 of February 2023 and there will be a face to face event on 28 February at the Double Tree Hilton, Bristol City centre, Redcliffe Way,… Read more: Conference news

Ofsted recently published their annual report. You can read the report here: Education, Children’s Services and Skills 2021/22 publishing.service.gov.uk  The report details the key themes and findings from Ofsted’s inspections over the last year including those under the education inspection framework (a total of 4620 schools were inspected) and the local area SEND framework.  The… Read more: OFSTED publish its annual report 

For the past two years, we have started the introduction and report with “What a year!” and whilst that still seems fitting, as we are all still dusting ourselves off from the COVID pandemic, we actually want to start with “look at what we did.”This NNPCF annual report, will be the first of many as… Read more: Annual report 2021/2022

The National Autism Peer Education Programme will offer families and carers of autistic people high-quality and easily accessible autism education, training, and support, via regional hubs across England, alongside a dedicated website.  The programme, which has been commissioned by Health Education England, will be delivered by the National Autistic Society, alongside the NNPCF and seven… Read more: The National Autism Peer Educator programme

Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission have released the new framework and handbook for local area inspections. Area SEND: framework and handbook – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)  The NNPCF have been closely engaged in the development of the new framework over the last 18 months ranging from feeding back on parent carer perspectives on the first round… Read more: New local area SEND inspection framework released 

25 November 2022  The NNPCF steering group and management team recently met with Katherine Cowell, the SEND lead from the DfE regions group.  The regions group was set up recently and supersedes the office of the regional school’s commissioner. The regional directors work locally across children’s social care, SEND, schools and area-based programmes. The new… Read more: NNPCF meet with Department for Education Regions Group 

Earlier today Tuesday 29 November, NNPCF Co-chair Mrunal Sisodia spoke with Minister Clare Coutinho about the plans for the DfE response to the SEND and Alternative Provision Green Paper. The Minister informed Mrunal that the Department’s response will not be published before Christmas as originally planned. Instead, they are targeting publication for early in the… Read more: SEND Reform update

We would like to welcome Jilly Russell, from Cumbria PCF (SENDAC) to the North East representative role. Of her appointment Jilly said ”I’m really excited and pleased to be joining the fantastic team already at NNPCF and glad to represent Cumbria and the North East as their steering group member. We all got involved for… Read more: New Steering Group member for the North East

The NNPCF know that the cost of living crisis is causing worry and stress for all families especially those with disabled children. We bring the genuine issues that families are experiencing to every meeting we attend to ensure these at issues are discussed at all levels. Below are some websites that may be able to… Read more: Cost of living support

Our NNPCF Cochairs meet with new Children and Families Minister 10 November 2022 On Monday, NNPCF cochairs Tina and Mrunal met with the newly appointed Undersecretary of State for Children, Families and Wellbeing, Clare Coutinho. This meeting took place before Ministerial portfolios were officially announced – an indication of the importance of the NNPCF in… Read more: New Children and Families Minister

Our work with National Health Service England (NHSE) to develop health services. Last year, the NNPCF was appointed the strategic partner for the Learning Disability and Autism workstream of the Children and Young People’s Long Term Plan. In this capacity, we have been working alongside our NNPCF regions and local forums to develop services for… Read more: Our work with the National Health Service England

We’re proud to sign a new open letter to the Government on the specialist workforce 📬 We’ve signed the letter alongside over 110 other charities, royal colleges, professional bodies, professional associations, trade unions, parents and carers and others who want the very best for children and young people, including those with special educational needs and… Read more: Specialist workforce

The SEND review team has asked us to collect information from parent carers on the following subjects The information with be anonymised when submitted to the team. This is a case study of parental experience if your child has been in residential settings out of their community and you are about to embark or have… Read more: Case studies for the DfE SEND review team

The NNPCF are engaged in many streams of work with the Department for Education.   As well as the longer-term changes like the SEND Green Paper and Schools’ Bill, we have been emphasising the need for work that changes things here and now for SEND families – we cannot wait years for new legislation.   One of… Read more: DfE Update – Delivering better value for SEND and Safety Valve

You will all have noticed the political instability over the last few months and weeks. Many parent carer forums and others in the SEND system have been asking what this means for SEND and how they should be responding. Ahead of each financial year, the NNPCF outlines its strategy which includes a clear set of… Read more: Political Instability: What does it mean for SEND?

The Public Accounts Committee are due to be questioning senior officials and executives at the Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC) and NHS England on the progress in establishing Integrated Care Systems in England. They will examine if they are being set up in a way which allows them to achieve their objectives:   To… Read more: Intergrated Care Systems call for evidence

Please join us in congratulating Jo Gilliland, our North East Steering Group member on being offered a new role working across the North East & North Cumbria Integrated Care System.  Jo will be strategic lead for the keyworking project in the North East and North Cumbria. This means Jo will continue to be at the… Read more: Jo Gilliland to step down from NNPCF steering group to take up new role with NHS

We are delighted to welcome Claire Fisher to the NNPCF management team. Claire joins as our new Policy and Consultations lead and will lead on our work to make sure that all the feedback from our membership is reflected in the representations that NNPCF make to regional and national government and NHS. This includes formal… Read more: Welcome to our new Policy and Consultations Lead Claire Fisher and fond farewell to Kay Moore

We are pleased to announce that Claire Richmond from the Richmond parent carer forum has been appointed to replace outgoing NNPCF board member Fazilla Amide. Claire has worked successfully to establish the Richmond forum after a difficult period over the last few years and brings experience of building relationships, reaching consensus, and working across other… Read more: New Steering Group member for London

New Minister with responsibilities for SEND announced The new government continues to formalise ministerial responsibilities and last week, Kelly Tolhurst was announced as the new Minister for Schools and Childhood with responsibility for SEND. Minister Tolhurst is the second most senior minister in the Department for Education behind the Secretary of State Kit Malthouse. NNPCF… Read more: Department for Education update

We, the National Network of Parent Carer Forums wish to extend our sincere condolences to the Royal family on the death of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II at this extremely sad time. Her selfless duty and dedication to the people of the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth will never be forgotten. Her legacy will continue… Read more: Statement from NNPCF

Dozens of SEND families responded to our call for evidence. They told us that the lack of support in school means that their children find it impossible to attend school regularly Following the Children’s Commissioners ‘Voices of England’s Missing Children – The findings of the Children’s Commissioner’s Attendance Audit June 2022’ that was published on… Read more: NNPCF response to the call for 100% school attendance in September

The NNPCF have been part of a steering group where research has been carried out on the effects of SEND services throughout the Covid-19 pandemic and the reopening of services following the easing of restrictions. The research has been carried out by a team at Newcastle University, and they have looked at national and international… Read more: National research to develop policy and practice recommendations on resetting services to disabled children

The NNPCF ‘s consultation response has been submitted today 22 July. Our response has been extensively coproduced with parent carers: We ran a survey for all parents which received nearly 1300 responses – parents gave us a very strong steer on the key issues. We will publish the results of this survey in full. We… Read more: NNPCF response to the SEND Green Paper and Alternative Provision consultation.

Despite the recent political turmoil, the NNPCF has continued to represent the views of parent carer forums with key national and local bodies. At a time when the schools, health and care systems are starting major reforms, the NNPCF is working hard to make sure that the view of families are considered by those people… Read more: Representing your views: NNPCF work to share the parent carer perspective

The last few weeks have been very turbulent for the government with Boris Johnson standing down once a new Prime Minister (PM) has been voted in by the Conservative party. As you will know , Will Quince stood down from his Ministerial role of Children and Families Minister. This caused a lot of questions regarding… Read more: Confirmation of Ministerial changes

On Tuesday 28 June, our co-chair Tina Emery attended the Attendance Alliance meeting. The Secretary of State, Nadhim Zhawi, chaired the meeting. The main focus of the meeting was the intention to ensure 100% of all school children would attend school on the first school day in September and to launch the accompanying campaign. Tina… Read more: Attendance Alliance meeting

The last 24 hours of political turmoil have seen changes in the ministerial team responsible for the SEND policy and legislation including the Green Paper. Nadhim Zahawi has been promoted to Chancellor of the Exchequer and Michelle Donelan has replaced him as Secretary of State for Education. Will Quince, Children and Families Minister has resigned… Read more: Ministerial changes and what’s next for the SEND Green Paper

Last week, members of the NNPCF steering group and management team met with officials from the Department for Education working on the Schools White Paper. The DfE team covered the main tenants of the Bill outlined here Schools Bill: policy statements – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) Key amongst these are the ambitions laid out in the Bill… Read more: NNPCF Meeting with DfE Schools White Paper Team

Earlier this week, the Children’s Commissioner published her report ‘The Voices of England’s Missing Children‘ – an audit into attendance in England’s schools. Whilst identifying some of the issues surrounding school attendance and the challenges thrown up by experiences of many during the covid pandemic, the report calls for 100% of children to be back… Read more: Children’s Commissioner’s Attendance Audit

The mental health and wellbeing of both our parent carer forum members and their children and young people with SEND is a priority for us, the NNPCF. We are acutely aware of the impact that the COVID pandemic has had on everyone, especially parent carers. We have created a survey to help inform our future… Read more: Mental health and wellbeing survey launched.

The NNPCF have recently launched their parent carer survey on the SEND and Alternative Provision Green Paper consultation. They hope to collect as many responses as possible from all parent carers, not just those who are involved in their local parent carer forums. The responses of the survey will help to inform the NNPCF’s own… Read more: NNPCF launch SEND Green Paper consultation survey for all parent carers.

The NNPCF co-chair Mrunal Sisodia gave evidence to the House of Commons Education Select Committee on 24 May, when a session was held on the SEND Green Paper consultation. Mrunal was joined by IPSEA chief executive Ali Fiddy, Local Government Ombudsman Michael King and Imogen Jolley, Head of Public Law at Simpson Millar. In the… Read more: NNPCF gives evidence to the Education Select Committee

What does it say and what does the NNPCF think about it? The NNPCF co-chairs, Tina Emery and Mrunal Sisodia held a briefing on the contents of the long-awaited SEND and Alternative Provision Green Paper consultation for parent carer forums on 23 May. A recording of the session can now be viewed by following the… Read more: The SEND Green Paper: NNPCF briefing

Attended by Tina Emery and Sarah Clarke Prior to the meeting a quick mentimeter survey was sent out with questions to all forums, about the CQC’s role in the LA SEND Inspections and how forums understood the CQC’s role in the inspections.  A limited number of forums replied due to the Easter holidays, although 65… Read more: Care Quality Commision (CQC) presentation 20/04/22

The special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) and alternative provision (AP) consultation was published at the end of March. The NNPCF have been working with the Green Paper team at the Department for Education (DfE) to organise a series of engagement events for parent carer forums to feedback and discuss the plans outlined in the… Read more: SEND Green Paper engagement events with the Department for Education and parent carer forums

Policy briefing for parent carer forums The Government are consulting on the proposed changes to the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA) Code of Practice, which includes guidance on the new Liberty Protection Safeguards (LPS) system. The consultation is also seeking views on the LiPS regulations, which will underpin the new system. You can access the… Read more: Proposed changes to the Mental Capacity Act 2005 Code of Practice and implementation of the Liberty Protection Safeguards

Article updated 02/05/22 What is the Down Syndrome Bill? The Down Syndrome Bill is a private members bill sponsored by Dr Liam Fox MP and Baroness Hollins. The purpose of the Bill is to “Make provision about meeting the needs of persons with Down syndrome; and for connected purposes.” The Bill stipulates: ”(1) The Secretary… Read more: Down Syndrome Bill update April 2022

The response and recovery from the Covid 19 pandemic and implementation of the NHS Long Term plan are critical to parent carer forums and are key priorities for the NNPCF. We have been hearing very clear feedback on issues in the health system and around the implementation of the NHS Long Term Plan from parent… Read more: NNPCF concerns about the implementation of the NHS Long Term Plan

The Health and Care Bill was introduced to Parliament in July 2021 and will place Integrated Care Systems (ICSs) on a statutory footing. ICSs are the structures through which NHS organisations, in partnership with local authorities, will take joint responsibility for improving the health and wellbeing of the population they serve, including children and young… Read more: Lords concludes examination of Health and Care Bill

Yesterday saw the publication of the Schools’ White Paper, Opportunity for All (Opportunity for all – Strong schools with great teachers for your child (publishing.service.gov.uk)). This will form the basis of new legislation for schools and part of a package of reforms along with the SEND review. This paper outlines our initial response to the… Read more: Initial NNPCF response to the Schools White Paper

The long awaited SEND Green Paper was published this morning. In this article, the NNPCF steering group present their initial response and analyse where the Green Paper delivers what parent carer forums had asked for, where it doesn’t go far enough and where we have significant concerns. You can find the Green Paper here: SEND… Read more: SEND Green Paper – response from the NNPCF

March 2022 Attendance, behaviour and exclusions of children and young people at school remains a major focus for the Department for Education and the wider education sector at the moment. For example, this week, the Children’s Commissioner published a report into the current state of school attendance. Where are England’s Children? Interim findings from the… Read more: Attendance, behaviour and exclusions

The Department for Education have published several consultations which set out their proposals to improve school systems. The NNPCF are working on our consultation responses to ensure that the issues most important to SEND families are reflected in proposed changes across admissions, attendance, and behaviour. Admissions Changes to the school admission appeals code Closes 3rd… Read more: Opportunities to change school systems for Children and Young People with SEND

The NNPCF steering group has been working with a variety of stakeholders to offer parent carers and forums the opportunity to be briefed and engage in the SEND Green Paper. This post updates you on what we are planning and how you can get involved. The SEND review has been a long time in the… Read more: SEND review – engagement opportunities for parent carer forums

The NNPCF steering group are delighted to announce that Sue Cawkwell and Melissa Chesman will be joining the NNPCF management team. Sue will join as our administrative lead and will work with the board and management team to ensure that the work of the NNPCF is organised and managed in the best possible way. She… Read more: NNPCF appoints new management team members

We are delighted to welcome Elaine Lambe as our new steering group member for the West Midlands. Elaine is a member of the Warwickshire PCF and works within the West Midlands region. She is part her NCT regional team, doing national strategic work on their behalf. NNPCF Co-Chair Tina Emery commented, “I am looking forward… Read more: Elaine Lambe appointed as NNPCF Director and new West Midlands steering group member

On Monday the NNPCF Steering Group met with Baroness Barran, the Minister for the Schools System on proposals for the schools’ white paper. Forums feed back to us all the time about the issues that children and young people with SEND face in the current school system and the steering group relayed these messages to… Read more: NNPCF Steering Group meet with Minister on Schools White Paper

On Tuesday 18th January the NNPCF Steering group met with the Parliamentary Undersecretary for Children and Families Minister Will Quince. It was a 45-minute meeting where we gave the Minister stories of why and what we need to be included into the SEND review. The subjects included: The importance of national clarity about what should… Read more: NNPCF Steering Group meeting with Minister Will Quince

The NNPCF has been asked to join the Department for Education’s Attendance Action Alliance which was set up by the Secretary of State for Education Nadhim Zahawi. Education Secretary launches new attendance alliance – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) The group brings together senior figures from the world of education to boost attendance at school, particularly for vulnerable… Read more: Supporting children and young people with SEND attend school

On Monday 17th January, the Disabled Children’s Partnership (DCP) will launch a new campaign to highlight the need for SEND to be prioritised and properly funded in April’s local authority budgets. PCFs and this campaign share a common goal of improving services and outcomes for CYP with SEND and the NNPCF and Contact have been… Read more: Disabled Children’s Partnership launches new campaign

Zara Bowden has announced that she will be stepping down from her role as West Midlands steering group representative in February 2022. Zara has been a member of the NNPCF steering group since 2015 and has served two terms of office. Her second term comes to an end in September 2022 but Zara has made… Read more: Zara Bowden to step down as NNPCF regional representative

You will all be aware that the omicron variant is now spreading in England. The NNPCF have been involved in several conversations with the Department for Education and NHS England about what this means for children and young people (CYP)with SEND. Whilst we cannot predict the impact of omicron on services some very familiar topics… Read more: NNPCF input into planning for Omicron