Nottinghamshire Parent Carer Forum
Nottinghamshire Parent Carer Forum (NPCF) is a registered charity run by, and for, families of children and young people aged zero to 25 with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) living in or accessing services in Nottinghamshire.
NPCF has over 1,000 members and is led by a steering group of parent and carers selected through a formal recruitment process. Parents and carers can join the Forum online.
The forum works with the local authority, education, health and social care services, representing the collective views and experiences of families to shape services, policies and practices. It receives a small annual grant from the Department of Education, which requires a commitment to work in coproduction with the local authority.
NPCF is part of a national network of 150 forums that share good practice and join wider discussions on SEND.
NPCF is a member of the SEND Partnership Assurance and Improvement Group (PAIG), the SEND Executive Leadership Group, and the SEND Partnership Improvement Board, ensuring the direct lived experiences of families are represented in decision-making.
How does NPCF work?
- NPCF listens and connects with families in different ways to ensure their diverse experiences shape the feedback it gives to services and strategic partners.
- It represents parent and carer voices in meetings, ensuring family perspectives remain central in discussions about service planning.
- It helps to highlight local challenges, identify gaps and areas for improvement and assess the impact of change.
- It highlights to providers and commissioners the importance of listening to and learning from families' lived experiences to shape and improve services and strengthen connections with parents and carers.
- NPCF actively encourages parents and carers to get involved by taking part in surveys, consultations, workshops, focus groups and events.
- NPCF helps the development of local peer support groups by providing encouragement, signposting and practical support.
Key activities in 2024 to 2025
- Organised sessions for families to connect, build peer support networks, and access information and support.
- Delivered workshops on relevant topics for families of children and young people with SEND, including Makaton taster session, Level 1 Makaton training, wellbeing days, and Independent Provider of Special Education Advice (IPSEA) 'Introduction to SEND Law' training.
- Provided funding to help develop a new toy and sensory resource library for both county and city families, enabling families to borrow and try out resources.
- Attended several parent and carer marketplace events, including the Preparing for Adulthood sessions and the Including Parents event.
- Updated website to provide clear and accessible information.
- Distributed a monthly newsletters to members.
- Responded directly to emails and calls from parents and carers seeking support, advice and signposting.
NPCF Focused projects
Autism in Schools
A national project aimed at improving support for autistic children and young people in mainstream schools. It focuses on three areas:
- training and support for school staff
- running parent and carer groups providing peer support, signposting and strengthening family-school relationships
- delivering parent workshops with information, resources and guidance
The aim is for the parent and carer groups developed through the project to continue beyond the life of the programme.
Partnership for Inclusion of Neurodiversity in Schools (PINS)
This project highlighted the positive impact of a genuine partnership working with health, education, local authority and NPCF working together.
It involved work with 38 mainstream primary schools across Nottinghamshire where NPCF held over 120 in-person parent and carer group sessions, open to all families of children with additional needs, including those without a formal diagnosis.
These sessions created a space for families to share experiences, build peer support, and strengthen communication and collaboration with school leadership teams.
Part-time timetable review
In response to concerns raised by families, NPCF carries out a year-log review of the use of part-time timetables by education providers in Nottinghamshire.
The forum used a range of methods to gather diverse experiences and perspectives, including:
- semi-structured interviews
- a survey
- data analysis
- policy reviews
The findings and recommendations were brought together in a formal report and presented to two key decision-making bodies, with the aim of influencing future practice and informing strategic decisions.
