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About the WPCC
The Wiltshire Parent Carer Council CIC (WPCC) is an independent organisation which is managed and run by parent carers, for parent carers, seeking to enable the voice and experiences of parent carers to positively influence the services that their children and families use.
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Representing over 3,000 parent carers of children and young people in Wiltshire with Special Educational Needs and/or Disabilities (SEND), the WPCC provides a specialist consultation and participation service which enables parent carers to have a voice about the services and support their children and families use. This service offers real opportunities to influence and shape provision across the local area, and work in partnership with the people who commission and deliver services in Wiltshire.
The WPCC also provides its specialist information and signposting service called SENDIS, to support parent carers of children and young people with SEND, and those working with them. WPCC’s SENDIS service is a ‘one-stop shop’ that provides a wealth of specialist information as well as signposting to specialist services which support families raising a child or young person with SEND. This service is enhanced by our Outreach Service and Telephone Triage Team.
Improving local services for children and young people with special educational needs and/or disabilities There’s nothing that can’t be done if we raise our voice as one
Wiltshire Council has asked the WPCC to lead on co-production with parent carers, to develop proposals to create a single social care pathway for children, young people and adults with disabilities. Wiltshire Council wants the WPCC to undertake coproduction on specific proposals to create an all-age disability service within social care and to transform day opportunities for disabled people. This will involve bringing together people who have lived experience of social care and/or who use or have used these services. The objective of the coproduction project is to enable parent carers to have a strong voice in the development of social care support in Wiltshire. The coproduction period and subsequent write-up and analysis should take no longer than three months from start of contract. It is anticipated that the contract will start on or around midNovember 2021. The Council specifically wants to hear the views of disabled young people and their families about: -
➢ how we improve our current transitions arrangements. ➢ how we create a seamless all-age disability pathway. ➢ what kind of day opportunities young people want to access, which help them to learn new skills, play an active part as citizens in their community, and live independently.
The scope of the coproduction is to actively listen to the experiences and views of people with lived experience, to hear what outcomes disabled people and their families want from services and to ensure these are at the heart of any future service model.
The coproduction should focus on outcomes and cover: ➢ What is important to the person about their life, what they would like to change and how the proposed services could help them to achieve those changes. ➢ How existing or potential customers want to co-produce their support plans with professionals, networks, etc; and how they want to review progress against support plans. ➢ What are the possible options around the current model, what are the possible risks and benefits of a new way of working by adult services reaching in earlier and aligning resources where appropriate, and how likely are these risks and benefits. ➢ What does a good life look like for young people who have a disability, and how ?
When trying to engage parent carers in the coproduction, it will be important to consider individuals or groups who are directly affected by the service, now and in the future; and other individuals or groups who may have a valuable role to play going forward. It is also important to recognise those individuals and groups who may be ‘seldom heard’. It will be important to ensure that all communities are given equal opportunity to contribute and take proactive steps to make reasonable adjustments where appropriate. We will need to ensure that parent carers throughout Wiltshire (excluding Swindon) are given the opportunity to engage. Alongside face to face engagement, we will also use digital technology where possible, relevant or appropriate to enable the widest possible participation.
