Lancashire Parent Carer Forum and SEND Partnership Protocol

Agreed by the SEND Partnership Board 11 January 2024

1. Introduction

This Protocol seeks to build upon the existing Partnership agreement between Lancashire County Council and NHS Lancashire and South Cumbria ICB with the Lancashire Parent Carer Forum. Lancashire Parent Carer Forum will apply for the DFE funding from Contact to facilitate the Parent Carer Forum here in Lancashire and will receive the endorsement of Lancashire County Council and NHS Lancashire and South Cumbria ICB in submitting the funding application. This Protocol seeks to set out the mutual expectations of all parties and the support required to support the Forum to thrive this next year, with an expectation of a review after 6 months.

2. The national context and current agreement

This is the Memorandum of Understanding the Local Authority have previously provided in signing the DfE Grant application. In light of our current Partnerships with the ICB we are extending the Protocol to give due recognition to their role as a major stakeholder with commissioning responsibility for health provision across the whole of Lancashire.

"Lancashire County Council and NHS Lancashire and South Cumbria ICB commit to uphold the principles of the SEND Code of Practice and to work in partnership with the DfE funded local parent carer forum to improve local services for children and young people with SEND.

We recognise the independence of the DfE funded parent carer forum.

We value the role of the DfE funded parent carer forum in representing the needs, experiences and views of parent carers of children and young people with SEND including their role in raising issues, providing constructive feedback through open dialogue, and challenging partners when necessary.

We agree to work together with respect and as equal partners."

 The Lancashire Parent Carer Forum in turn have agreed to the following undertaking:

" We commit to uphold the principles of the SEND Code of Practice and to work in partnership with the local authority/health organisations to improve local services for children and young people with SEND. We recognise the local authority and health organisations as our strategic local partners.

We value the role of the local authority and health organisations in carrying out their statutory duties and will raise issues from parent carers providing constructive feedback through open dialogue, and challenging partners when necessary.

We agree to work together with respect and as equal partners. "

The SEND Partnership values

We share these values as the basis of our working together to support children and young people.

Inclusion: Belonging and involvement

Integrity: Honesty, trust and fairness

Respect:  Value, regard and reliability

When we use these words, we mean that they will guide the way we behave towards each other, so that we create a culture of understanding as the foundation for excellence.

Five partnership principles

The principles which are the foundation for how we work are set out in the Code of Practice (2015). They make clear that we must take the views, wishes and feelings of children, young people and their parents/carers into account, support them to take part in decision making and together enable children and young people to achieve in education and adulthood.  In practice, the FIVE principles from the Code that guide our work are:

  1. Choice and control for children, young people and parents
    • Taking children and young people’s views seriously
    • Involving parents and carers in decision making
  2. Collaboration between education, health and social care
    • Building trusting relationships
    • Ensuring coordination of support
  3. Quality provision and services
    • Delivering consistently
    • Communicating clearly
  4. Inclusive practice and removing barriers to learning
    • Behaving fairly and with compassion
    • Assuring children and young people’s dignity
  5. Preparation for adulthood
    • Being proactive and ambitious
    • Providing options and choices

The Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE), which sets out four principles, as follows.

  • Equality – recognising that everyone who takes part has equal importance and brings assets, like skills, abilities, or time, which must be recognised.
  • Diversity – making sure that no one is excluded from co-production.
  • Access – making sure that everyone can fully take part in co-production, in a way that works for them.
  • Reciprocity – everyone should get something out of taking part

3. Our common purpose

Starting from a commitment to uphold the principles of the SEND Code of Practice and to working in equal partnership with Lancashire Parent Carer Forum (LPCF) as the DfE funded local parent carer forum to improve local services for children and young people with SEND.

  • This reflecting that within the Children and Families Act 2014 the local area must ‘provide information about services for children and young adults with disabilities and measure how well services are meeting local need’. It also states that ‘views and comments on these should be used to inform future commissioning decisions.
  • LPCF is the strategic, consultative body within the County of Lancashire which represents families of children and young people from 0 to 25 years with additional needs and disabilities, providing a liaison point for Statutory and Voluntary Agencies within the County.
  • LPCF will consult with, and inform our membership, with a view to ensuring that all children and young people in our County with additional needs and disabilities have the best possible outcomes. The expectations and guidelines for these intended outcomes may be updated from time to time in the light of changes to Government policy.
  • The LPCF Steering Group members as equal partners within the SEND Partnership work to ensure the views of LPCF members, wider groups, families of children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities are heard and listened to and taken into consideration when developing the SEND service and delivering improvements.

The forward plan

Co-production with parent carers will be invited through and in consultation with LPCF via the mechanism of a Forward Plan. The Forward Plan will be reviewed each week between the Chair of LPCF and the SEND Partnership Board Manager, and with SEND Executive Group at its monthly meetings.

  • Requests for parental input should be given with as much notice as possible and with clear objectives provided. Ordinarily the SEND Partnership Board in undertaking a consultation exercise to support service improvements should provide at least 4 weeks' notice to allow LPCF to liaise with its members.
  • Requests will be made via the Co-production Request Form, which will be sent to the Chair of LPCF and the SEND Partnership Board Manager, who will within 10 working days discuss the proposal with the lead practitioner(s) with a view to co-designing the approach and agreeing the aligned communication activity.
  • Where the Council are undertaking more formal consultation around proposed changes involving statutory functions and seeking LPCF involvement they will need to be clear of their needing to confirm 12 week deadlines to the process.
  • Where LPCF cannot facilitate events, will always put out a co-produced invite to its membership and the wider social media and other parent carer groups. In such situations the learning achieved by services will be shared with LPCF, to enrich the feedback received, support interpretation of the feedback, consider next steps and share in communicating the results and improvements to its members and to the wider parent carer audience.
  • Individual services will on occasion reserve the judgement to progress surveys in a timely manner to satisfy simple questions. However, will in such eventualities consult with LPCF lead members both as a matter of courtesy and to enlist its expertise. In such situations feedback will be shared with LPCF and its views will be considered too. If this leads onto the need for more in depth work, it should then feed back into the Forward Plan.
  • The SEND Partnership is open to request from different parent led organisations to meet directly with Officers and for their views to be heard. The SEND Partnership will use its best endeavours to promote links to LPCF. LPCF in acting as the primary conduit for parent`s views will seek to engage with parent carer led groups on the basis that we are stronger together. LPCF support learning gained from other groups being shared within the Partnership Board, so that findings receive validation and agreed actions are taken.
  • Some Partners, such as SENDIAS do have their own legislative requirements, specific guidelines or minimum standards which require them to consult outside of the LPCF, and wherever possible it is preferable that learning is shared to triangulate the feedback received.

Challenge and limitations

Open respectful communication is a fundamental principle within the SEND Partnership. All parties do recognise and value the role that each party play in carrying out their statutory duties. Our commitment to Parents Carers is to listen, connect and learn, invite constructive feedback and from this to challenging both ourselves and partners when necessary.

  • However, that whilst we should seek to achieve mutual consensus there remains a need for each party to continue to meet their existing organisational commitments and where there are budgetary constraints and best value considerations these do need to be made clear. Where there are limitations in co-production, they should be made explicit to avoid generating inappropriate expectations.
  • Parent carers will reasonably expect that the SEND Partnership provide clear, comprehensive, jargon free, timely information to enable LPCF members and parents to make informed decisions and choices.
  • Where there is more extensive co-production required the Partnership Board and services may need to commission either the LPCF or other voluntary sector organisation to undertake this work.

4. Mutual expectations around meetings and communications

  1. Meeting papers for meetings will be provided in advance to provide LPCF good time to understand the agendas and clarify matters arising or submit items for consideration. (5 working days in advance of the meeting whenever possible.) The expectation being that if there are difficulties in opening papers that this should allow this to be resolved.
  2. Strategic level meetings – SEND Partnership Group, SEND Priority Groups and Task & Finish Groups will be held between 10am and 2pm and during term time. For the most part meetings will be virtual to minimise travelling. Where they are face to face meetings they should be in accessible venues.
  3. Engagement activity will take place during the day and evening. The SEND Partnership will seek to avoid any formal parent carer consultation activity within the school holiday periods, although information events and electronic surveys will be arranged.
  4. The LPCF in providing leadership within the Communication Priority Group will seek to ensure communications activities and events are targeted to the needs of the different cohorts of parent carers. LCPF in leading event design will give clear direction to go to where parents are locally. LCPF will in turn seek to enlist the support of more locally based parent carer groups to encourage them as prospective hosts for events.
  5. The shared leadership of the Communications Priority group recognises the position and need for both parties to access the Parent carer and practitioner networks effectively to promote events in a targeted manner, via social media and direct communication where those networks can facilitate this and by word of mouth by practitioners, parent carer group leads.
  6. Members of the SEND Partnership Board Executive Group will seek to meet with LPCF Steering members on a 3 monthly basis to review current activity across the Partnership.

    LPCF have a Development Plan which they will review themselves 3 monthly to support their own planning. This will enable them to take control of their own activity with greater confidence and identify their priorities for the following 3 months.

    For this next year this should ensure that the requests made by the SEND Partnership Board are reasonable and that where support is required it can be sought.

    (This meeting to include the Head of Service Inclusion, SEND Partnership Manager, ICB Lead together with Chair and 6 Parent Representatives. It is envisaged Priority Group Leads might wish to attend in rotation. Terms of Reference / further membership to be confirmed)
  7. The SEND Partnership Board welcome Parent Representatives to attend the Partnership Board, Executive Group, Operations Group and 5 Priority Groups, and will seek to actively support LPCF to recruit people into these positions.
  8. The Chair of LPCF will offer to provide an Annual Report to the SEND Partnership Board to share its current activity.
  9. Officers within the SEND Partnership will facilitate the work of LPCF Parent representatives with responsibility to contact them prior to the meeting to discuss the agenda, support their contribution to the meeting and offer time after meetings to share thinking.
  10. The Communication Priority Group will be co-chaired by the Partnership Board Manager and LPCF chair with the agenda confirmed jointly in advance. The structure of meetings required to facilitate joint working should be subject to 3 monthly reviews. The Group is in the process of developing a Communications Delivery Programme, which should in time draw together co-production, consultation and communication activity.
  11. The Chair of LCPF and steering group members will meet with officers from the SEND Partnership Board monthly to review joint activity within the next period. The intention of meeting is to ensure the voice of parents and young people are being actively considered by the SEND Partnership.
  12. Confidentiality
    All parties will fully respect that the nature of information shared, especially about individuals or families, must be kept confidential and only used in the right settings as per Lancashire County Council Privacy notice.

    All parties will respect the confidence of patients, clients and their carers relating to their condition, their family and their financial and other circumstances and not to disclose any such information to others who are not authorised to have it, either within or outside the NHS Lancashire and South Cumbria ICB and will abide by the Caldicott requirements in confidentiality at all times. LSC Integrated Care Board Privacy notice (icb.nhs.uk)

    LPCF is committed to always complying with the GDPR principles and has policies relating to Data Protection and Confidentiality. Parent carers working within LPCF are expected to understand and be fully compliant with these policies. LPCF will undertake to keep these policies under review and ensure regular briefings on the same.

5. LPCF working to develop parent`s voice

  1. LPCF will seek to draw down the funding from the DFE (parent participation grant) and other relevant sources to support its work. They will in this year seek to change their legal position to CICC status.
  2. LPCF will seek to widen the number of parent carer groups who would wish to become Affiliated as a mechanism to widen its reach, influence and membership. LPCF may look to co-opt leaders from other parent carer groups, to contribute its training and development plan.
  3. LPCF will seek to widen its reach to reflect the geography, demographics and identity of Lancashire
  4. LPCF will seek to ensure Parent Carers receive regular and clear feedback on its work within the Partnership Board, by its feedback reporting processes.
  5. LPCF will network within National and Regional Parent Carer Forum Groups to both share good practice and learning and contribute to national feedback to Ministers.
  6. LPCF will seek to develop Parent Carer leaders and leadership, to maintain its integrity as the voice of parent carers with a strong steering group, strategic representatives and to build local leadership arrangements too.

6. SEND Partnership support to LPCF and parental voice

  1. The SEND Partnership recognise that LPCF as the authentic voice of Parent Carers in Lancashire is independent of the Council and ICB. LPCF is first and foremost accountable to its own membership, and to Contact as the delivery partner around contract monitoring. LPCF as it continues to develop will regularly check what Parent Carers here in Lancashire wants from it.
  2. The SEND Partnership does recognise that LPCF cannot do everything at once and will moderate its expectations, to check they are reasonable and proportionate. The SEND Partnership members will seek to slow things down to listen, connect and to learn. The role of Parent Carer representatives working within the SEND Partnership as volunteers is valued and reciprocal relationships require the practice of empathy and recognition of the wider demands they may also have in life.
  3. With the support of partners, LPCF will confirm viable administrative arrangements to facilitate the communication activity required to meet both its strategic and engagement activity.
  4. The SEND Partnership will support LPCF in its recruitment activity through its   engagement and communication with the wider parent carer audience. This will be done via ensuring good links via the Local Offer and social media activities. The Local Offer Development Officer, SENDIAS Manager and DSCO will offer support to LPCF in its planning to grow membership, develop affiliation and support people who will take leadership roles.
  5. The SEND Partnership will consider additional funding to support the development of LPCF Steering Group, by an external facilitator, using the Genuine Partnerships Model.
  6. LPCF will review its Constitution within the next 12 months and hold a further General Meeting within 6 months to refresh its steering group and to report on changes to positions within the Steering Group.
  7. LPCF will seek the support of the Regional Advisor from Contact in its negotiation of its relationship and dialogue with the SEND Partnership.
  8. The SEND Partnership will offer Officer support from within its membership to support LPCF to facilitate agreed aspects of its Development Plan.
  9. The Council and partners will offer support to LPCF in the use of its buildings for Steering Group training and Membership Events.
  10. The SEND Executive Group will want to agree with LPCF to work towards the following indicators, to be reviewed 3 monthly:
    • Representation at SEND Partnership Board
    • Representation at SEND Executive Group
    • Representation on the SEND Operational Group
    • Representation on 5 Priority Groups
    • Representation of Steering Group members to monthly meetings
    • Membership growth – supported by a membership recruitment plan
    • Development of a Training Plan – with a training matrix
    • Feedback reports provided to members / on Facebook page
    • Provision of an Annual Report to the SEND Partnership Board
    • Development Plan and 3-month Action Plan reviewed with Contact Regional Advisor
    • LPCF to review its Constitution and Governance structure within the next 12 months
    • Annual Meeting to be held within 12 months
    • Review by the Steering Group of Chairs, Vice – chairs and senior positions.

7. Developing our joint commitment to co-production

  1. The SEND Partnership will commit to adopting the Genuine Partnership Model as providing a framework for co-production
    The Four Cornerstones Approach to Co-production (PDF)

    The Genuine Partnership’s Four Cornerstones:

    1. Welcome and Care
    2. Value and include
    3. Communicate openly, clearly and honestly
    4. Work in partnership

  2. LPCF will work within SEND Partnership in its audit of its arrangements and of SEND services using working tools from the Genuine Partnership`s Model, and to then develop a joint plan based upon those discussions.
  3. LPCF will work within the SEND Partnership to support co-production at an individual, operational or service level and strategic level, and engage with its membership and parent organisations to identify key indicators at each level.
    • At an individual level LPCF role being in information provision and developing parent carers confidence in how to participate in individual decision making.
    • At an operational level LPCF will support the SEND community to be aware of opportunities to participate, provide information about what is happening or proposed and provide a point of contact for feedback which we can share with parents and services. This is termed Service or Team co-production and involves a service or a team working with those who use their services, to design, develop and monitor processes and delivery. Whenever possible this should involve LPCF Parent Carer Representatives to provide facilitation, in interpreting feedback, and confirming next steps, evaluation and celebrating success.
    • At a strategic level LPCF will use its knowledge base created by its ongoing interaction with the SEND community, to provide an overview of system issues and influencing strategic decision making. At this stage LPCF will be referred to as a "strategic partner". Trained and co-ordinated Parent Carer representatives working to ensure the community voice influences and informs system wide planning, including agreeing priorities and strategic level plans.
  4. LPCF and the SEND Partnership Board recognise that co-production is preferable in delivering transformational change, and that this will take time to embed within our culture. That there is a place for co-design and engagement too if parent carers and young people are engaged with respectfully, however this will have lesser impact as they are more transactional process.

    Co-production is an equal relationship between people who use services and the people responsible for services. They work together, from design to delivery, sharing strategic decision-making about policies as well as decisions about the best way to deliver services.

    Codesign is when People who use services are involved in designing services, based on their experiences and ideas. They have genuine influence, though are not necessarily involved in "seeing it through" to full implementation.

    Engagement is where people who use services are given more opportunities to express their views and may be able to influence some decisions but depends on what the people responsible for services will allow. The service providers have generally made their plan for what they want to do, and just seek to check their thinking to check that the plan is a good idea and is likely to make a difference.

    Consultation is where People who use services may be asked to fill in surveys or attend meetings; however, this step may be rightly challenged as tokenistic where people do not have the power to influence or affect change.

    Information - The people responsible for services tell people about the services and explain how they work. This may include telling people what decisions have been made and why and can risk when used without sufficient empathy to adversarial relations.

    Education - The people who use services are helped to understand the service design and delivery so that they gain relevant knowledge about it. That is all that is done at this stage and again without subsequent listening to people does not help effective working relationships to develop.

  5. The SEND Partnership will commit to working with LPCF to develop co-production training for SEND staff and to engage LPCF in the development of its workforce development plans.
  6. LPCF provides the means for the SEND Partnership to build a confident dialogue with Parent Carers that reinforces confidence and trust:
    • "Nothing about me without me” with the voices of parent carers, and of children and young people shaping the outcomes that drive our SEND activity.
    • Recognition that whilst co-production may take more time, the investment will produce better outcomes.
    • Transparency in agreeing the scope of any piece of work with clarity on what we want to achieve and any given parameters or limiting factors in the situation.
    • Closing the loop to provide parent carers and the SEND community prompt feedback, so they understand how their input has effected change,
    • Developing a shared language on co-production and learning together.
    • Hearing directly from those with a lived experience to contributing to decision making at all levels and all stages
    • Developing standards and expectations, build in regular reviews and revision to reflect learning, ensure monitoring and quality assurance of co-production
    • Innovation and flexibility – being prepared to try something new
    • Whole life approach – being prepared to think about all aspects of a person's life

8. The legal context

The Children and Families Act 2014 focuses on putting children and young people at the heart of planning and decision making through co-production and person-centred practice. It emphasises the importance of engaging young people and their families in all processes from developing and planning, particularly in relation to the Local Offer and Education, Health and Care Plans, and also in the commissioning of services and strategic decision making.

  • The Care Act requires that a person must be genuinely involved and influential throughout the planning process and should be given every opportunity to take joint ownership of the development of their plan.
  • Section 14Z2 of the NHS Act 2006, as amended by the Health and Social Care Act 2012 requires that commissioning processes are informed by those with a lived experience

The SEND Code of Practice, states; "Effective participation happens when: it is recognised, valued, planned and resourced (for example, through appropriate remuneration and training) it is evident at all stages in the planning, delivery and monitoring of services there are clearly described roles for children, young people and parents there are strong feedback mechanisms to ensure that children, young people and parents understand the impact their participation is making

The statutory duty of local authorities to consult with parent carers at a strategic level is set out in the SEND Code of Practice 2015, which says: At a strategic level, partners must engage children and young people with SEN and disabilities and children's parents in commissioning decisions, to give useful insights into how to improve services and outcomes ... (SEND Code of Practice, 3.18)

Over a decade ago the 2009 Lamb Inquiry confirmed “Face-to-face communication with parents, treating them as equal partners with expertise in their children's needs is crucial to establishing and sustaining confidence.

Summation

Co-production is a transformational process grounded in mutual learning, kindness, curiosity and dignity. It requires us to slow down and genuinely listen when the pace of lives is busy and when we do this, it promises to change how we see each other and then work together; it changes us and we must let it. In Lancashire we value the principle of co-production and working together to improve services to deliver better outcomes for children and young people.