Local Offer Parent Carer Participation

Welcome to the Peterborough City Council SEND Team survey!

We have pulled together some questions to help us understand how you feel about the services that support you once you get to be a young adult at 16.

This is part of our wider work on improving things for young people aged 16 – 25.

Your views and answers will help us to make things better for you. Part of our work is related to helping us to complete a plan with the Department of Education that shows we are supporting young people aged 16-25, which they asked us to complete following the last Local Area Inspection.

The Department of Education will be coming back to speak to us about what we have learned and what we have done at the end of February, so please let us have your answers before then so we can share what you think with them.

Take the survey

Parent/Carer half termly listening meetings

The meetings will take place half termly, with one meeting in person and the following meeting taking place virtually. This will then support Parent/Carers from all communities to attend should they wish. 

The purpose of the meeting is to ensure that Peterborough City Council’s SEND, Inclusion and Social Care service have the chance to meet with individual Parent Carers like yourself to understand your lived experience. We would like to work with the council to improve the co-production between them and Parent Carers which will result in achieving the best outcomes for our children and young people.

There is no need to book, simply drop by and have a chat, raise any concerns and share your views of services.

The first meeting was held on 6 October 2022.  Here are the results of the October 2022 meeting.

You Said We Did October 2022

Parents/Carers half termly listening meetings – Terms of Reference 2022

Purpose 

To ensure that Peterborough City Council’s (PCC) SEND, Inclusion and Social Care service meets with individual parents/carers to understand their lived experience. To work with the parents/carers to improve the co-production between PCC and Parent/Carers which will result in achieving the best outcomes for our children and young people (CYP). To provide an opportunity for information sharing and signposting.

Membership

Chair

Head of SEND & Inclusion/Social Care Service/Team Manager (required)

Service Representatives

(required)    Head of Family Voice         

(required)    Minute taker                         

(required)    Individual Parent/Carers    

(required)    Social Care                           

 (optional)    Health                                  

Membership Information

The Head of SEND and Inclusion and a Service/Team Manager for Social Care will attend half termly to meet with individual parent/carers that would like to discuss their lived experience. The Head of Family Voice will attend to facilitate the meeting.

Designated rep can be sent for Head of Family Voice, Head of SEND/Inclusion and Service Manager for Social Care

Scope of Meeting

The Meeting will:

Listen to individual parent/carers lived experience to help improve the service the CYP receive and improve co-production between PCC and individual parent/carers

The meeting will be limited to 15 parent/carers to ensure voices are heard

Helps to create a shared understanding of the lived experience of PCC families 

Individual parent/carers can raise general themes

The meeting is not a forum for raising individual concerns around professionals from education, health, and social care. There are processes in place to manage this

Terms of Reference

The Board will:

Welcome and apologies

Review minutes from last meeting

Listen to individual parent/carers lived experience

Listen to what is working well to build on the current successes

Take actions away to look at how to improve the service 

You said, we did section

Meeting Schedule

The meeting will take place half termly, alternating one meeting in person and the following meeting taking place virtually. This will support parent/carers from all communities to attend should they wish.

Review of Terms of Reference

Review Date:

These Terms of Reference will be reviewed annually on or around 1st April each year.

What is Family Voice?

Family Voice Peterborough is a local registered charity who are actively seeking to improve services in all areas of the lives of children and young people with disabilities or additional needs. They support parents and carers of children and young people aged 0—25 years with a disability or additional needs.

Family Voice Peterborough send parent reps and trustees to attend strategic meetings in relation to various strands of the SEND reforms.

The service they provide includes:

• Helping parents and carers engage with professionals across Health, Education and Social Care.
• Facilitating participation in service delivery.
• Providing a voice for parents at strategic level meetings
• Holding informative events 
• Helping parents and carers have access to the information about what services are available to them.
• Signposting parents and carers to other agencies/ organisations who provide specific services that they do not.

Aims:

To ensure parents and carers have a genuine influence in the shaping of services

• Facilitate participation in service delivery
• To raise awareness of unmet needs and ensure that parents and carers have the opportunity to raise issues and areas of concern
• To work in partnership with all other statutory and voluntary organisations
• To be a positive force to encourage and ensure that the local authority improves services for our children and young people
• To be the strategic consultative body within Peterborough representing families of children and young people with disabilities and additional needs

You can contact Family Voice by completing their Contact form.

Family Voice Office Address:

105 Paynels
Orton Goldhay
Peterborough
PE2 5QP

Family Voice Telephone number: 01733 685510.

Expert Parent Training Programme

Family Voice offers the Expert Parent Training Programme designed by the Council for Disabled Children.  

The Expert Parent Programme began in 2014, supported by research led by the Every Disabled Child Matters campaign which found that parents and carers of disabled children faced numerous barriers in accessing health services and struggled to navigate the health system. 

The programme was developed with funding support from the Department of Health and Care, NHS England, and Health Education England.

The Expert Parent Programme drew on evidence of the positive impact of parent-led training and empowers parents of disabled children and young people to become more confident and resilient when engaging with health services, and the other services that they come across. 

The course is free to parent carers and can be booked via Family Voice. 

Upcoming trips, activities and events

You can view all the upcoming events on the Family Voice calendar on their website. 

Are you following our YouTube Channel? 

We've been uploading some of our virtual events to our YouTube so you can always access them if you're unable to attend. 

Check out this video from our last Parent Carer Workshop: Challenging Behaviours.

Parent carer coffee morning, Every 3rd Wednesday of the Month

On the third Wednesday of the month between 12:30 and 2pm drop by and join the Family Voice peterborough team for an informal chat, signposting and light refreshments

Visit www.familyvoice.org/events for exact details.

Family Voice Peterborough - Evening and weekend community hubs 

Do you want a space to relax with the children after school or work, ormaybe on a Saturday lunchtime?

Perhaps you want to speak to someone about local services or advice, or see what food is available for free collection?

Then drop by the Family Voice Peterborough new community hubs.

Thet are open to anyone and everyone. They have games, colouring for adults and children, refreshments and more.

There are also free activities during the daytime.

Email office@familyvoice.org  for more information.

When 

4pm to 7 pm Monday and Wednesday Evenings

11am to 1pm on Saturdays

Where 

The Family Voice Peterborough Golday Centre. 

105 Paynels, Peterborough PE2 5QP

Youth Community Collective

Scope's Youth Community Collective will bring together young people.

The aim is to improve their local community for disabled people. You will choose the challenges you want to take on in your local community. Scope will support you with bringing about change.

Get together with other like-minded people and make your local community better. You and the group you are working with will initially meet every month. Scope will work with your group on the best format for these meetings. Group meetings are where you design projects and act on issues that matter the most. Working as a team to achieve your goals.

Who can join the programme?

It’s for you if you: 

• want to create a better community for disabled people
• live in Peterborough
• are a disabled or non-disabled young person
• are between 18 and 25 years old

You will find more details on the Scope website.

Community Engagement Programme

Scope's Community Engagement programme empowers local people to take action and create change in their local communities.

The programme is for disabled adults aged over 25, families, parents and unpaid carers of disabled children.

Groups of local people meet once a month at an informal gathering where they can meet new people and find out about a range of planned activities. Each area has a programme of planned activities and some campaigns designed and developed by local people.

 Examples of planned local activities and campaigns include:

• sleep workshops for parents
• disability awareness training for local retailers
• art workshops
• accessible allotments

You will find more details on the Scope website

(please note the age range of 12-65 is incorrect on this webpage and needs to be updated)

Caring Together -  parent carer workshops, hubs and resources

For parents looking after their children with additional needs (parent carers), Caring Together are able to offer a range of information and support including:

• Carers hubs
• Family carers’ prescription
• Listening Ear service
• Carers magazine and ebulletin
• Carer’s card
• Hope Programme
• Transition planning – the move into adulthood
• Local offer

View their website for more details

More information

You can find out more about the draft SEND Strategy on the SEND Strategy page.

Talking points

Family Voice Peterborough (FVP) has decided after some consideration, to adopt the National Network of Parent Carer Forums's (NNPCF) approach to raising issues of importance known as ‘talking points’.

FVP will listen to what topics parent carers feel are most important, evidence these concerns and collate them into specific ‘Topics of Importance’.

The ‘topics of importance’ will detail the issue under discussion, what is being said, any sources of evidence used to develop the ‘topic of importance, what messages will be given to key partners and possible recommendations for change.’

FVP will choose the ‘topics of importance’ based on evidence gathered through online surveys and social media polls, soft intelligence from face to face and online discussions and through other interactions with parent carers in coffee mornings at schools, focus groups, networking events. FVP will also look to find other innovative ways to engage with parents and listen to their concerns as not all parents make use of social media channels.

Parents on Panel

The first Topic of Importance to be published is Parents on Panels. 

The Local Authority response has also been published.

Information and Communication

The second Topic of Importance is Information and Communication.  

The Local Authority response has also been published.

COVID-19

The third Topic of Importance is COVID-19.  

The Local Authority response has also been published 

Education and Communication During COVID-19

The fourth Topic of Importance is Education and Communication During COVID-19  

The Local Authority response has also been published 

Lockdown and access to education for SEND children

The fifth Topic of Importance is Lockdown and access to education for SEND children

The Local Authority response has also been published

Preparing for Adulthood

The sixth Topic of Importance is Preparing for adulthood

The Local Authority response has also been published

Early Help, Support and Carers Wellbeing

The seventh Topic of Importance is Early Help, Support and Carers Wellbeing

The Local Authority response has also been published

Educational Experience

The eighth Topic of Importance is Educational Experience

The Local Authority response has also been published

Topic of Importance – Respite and Leisure Time

The ninth Topic of Importance  is Respite and Leisure Time

The Local Authority response has also been published

Topic of Importance – Preparing for Adulthood and Education

The tenth Topic of Importance is Preparing for Adulthood and Education

Parent carer participation webinars

Contact a Family have published their most recent parent carer participation webinars online, these can be found at the following links:

• Understanding and working with the health system 
• Introduction to Parent Carer Participation 

All other recorded webinars can be found on the Contact a Family web page along with training videos and the latest reports on parent carer participation.

What is the project?

The Seldom Heard project was launched in recognition of the need to get better at seeking the views of children and adults with learning disabilities and more complex communication challenges.

How can you get involved?

For further information and regular project updates straight into your inbox, you can sign up to the Seldom Heard email network.

To sign up, please email seldomheardvoices@thecbf.org.uk

You can also view the Challenting Behaviour Foundation website to find more details.

Families of disabled children trying to access savings held in Child Trust Funds can save or reclaim £365 or more after a Government fees overhaul.

The announcement, and how to claim the money, is being reported by the Money Saving Expert website which was founded by Martin Lewis - https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/2020/12/child-trust-fund-fees-waived/.

As explained on the article, CTFs are tax-free savings accounts for kids born between 1 September 2002 and 2 January 2011. Families were given free cash vouchers from the Government of £250 or £500 to put into the account – and some were also given top-ups, meaning children could have been given £1,000 in total. 

However, until now, If a young person didn't have the capacity to manage their own finances, their parent or guardian had to apply to the Court of Protection to manage and access money on their behalf.

For those who had a certain amount in savings, this came at a cost, starting from £365.

You will still need to go to court to access the money, but under the changes fees for doing so will be waived and those who have already paid can get a refund.

SEND newsletter

This Newsletter for parents is published quarterly.

• Read the November 2022 Special Education Needs and Disability in Peterborough - SEND Update

• Read the July 2022 Special Education Needs and Disability in Peterborough - SEND Update

• Read the March 2022 Special Education Needs and Disability in Peterborough - SEND Update 

• Read the November 2021 Special Education Needs and Disability in Peterborough - SEND Update

RESTORE2™ Mini and STOMP Training

What is it?

This Thera Trust training gives you the tools you need to advocate for your healthcare and the healthcare of others. Their Super Trainers with a lived experience will help you be taken seriously by health care professionals with the right language and approaches.

The NHS developed RESTORE2™. It is a tool to help people talk to health professionals. It teaches that soft signs are valid signals that a person is becoming unwell. Soft signs are changes to someone’s behaviour and other things that tell you something isn’t right and they are becoming unwell.

The training also gives you the knowledge of where and who within the health services you should contact. You will develop the words to use so you can get the right care at the right time.

STOMP (Stopping Over Medication of People with a learning disability, autism, or both) is a national initiative to stop the overuse of psychotropic (mindaffecting) medicines. People with a learning disability, autism, or both are more likely to be given these medicines than other people. STOMP is about helping people to stay well and have a good quality of life. It is important to check that these medicines are right for that person, particularly as their needs may have changed since they first started taking them.

What will you learn?

• Spot soft signs of illness in others 
• Know who to call for healthcare help first 
• Know what information to provide, how to communicate and what key words to use when speaking to health professionals
• Build your confidence to deal with health professionals and when advocating for your loved ones

Who is it for?

Anyone wanting to advocate for the healthcare of people with a learning disability, autism, or both.

What will it cost?

The training is free to attend.

Where will it take place?

The training can be face-to-face or online.

Who do I contact for further information?

If you would like more information about the project, or would like to be kept informed of training dates, please email Restore2@thera.co.uk

This project is funded by NHS England.

You can also find more details on the Thera Trust website

Family Voice Peterborough SEND School Transport survey

In the light of Peterborough City Council's Transport Transformation Strategy Family Voice Peterborough would like to gather your views about how you feel this could work for you and your family.

Please see the attached slides for your information: Transport Transformation Strategy

If you complete the survey and send in a screenshot of the closing 'thank-you' page by email to office@familyvoice.org along with name and contact details you can claim a FREE Easter Chocolate Egg.