Welcome to PaCC’s February 2025 Round Up
As we settle into the new year, we know that many parent carers continue to face ongoing challenges—whether that’s navigating the education system, struggling to access the right support, or coping with long waiting times for assessments and services. The pressures of daily life can feel overwhelming, especially for families facing a lack of suitable school places, limited access to therapies, and ongoing difficulties in securing short breaks and respite.
PaCC has been actively working to ensure your voices are heard. Over the past few weeks, we have been feeding into key discussions, including the secondary admissions consultations, the Autism in Schools programme, and national inquiries into SEND provision. We’ve also been meeting with local authority and health representatives, OFSTED, and the CQC to provide direct feedback from parent carers.
PaCC Remodel
Due to a 20% reduction in PaCC’s funding for the 2025-2026 financial year and our workload increasing, PaCC are implementing structural changes with how we operate to ensure we remain effective in supporting parent carers while maintaining staff wellbeing.
Find out more about how PaCC is changing here.
Here’s a round-up of what we’ve been focusing on recently:
The PaCC Learning Disability and Social Care lead has focused on the issues and concerns raised by parent carers around the Short Breaks holiday activities programme being developed by BHCC, as well as the issues faced by families who have overnight respite at Drove Rd.
Read the social care update here.
Secondary Admissions Consultation Update – PaCC has been listening to parent carers and feeding back key concerns about the recent secondary school admissions proposals. Issues such as placement uncertainty, transport, and the impact on friendships were raised, and we continue to ensure that SEND needs are considered in decision-making.
Download PaCC’s secondary school admissions consultation document (pdf 520kb).
OAP Co-Production Launch – We are pleased to be part of the development of Ordinarily Available Provision (OAP), which will help create clearer and more consistent support for children with SEND in mainstream schools. This is an important step towards ensuring inclusivity across all settings.
Read more about OAP here.
Autism in Schools and PINS Update – Autism in Schools is entering its second year and PaCC has met with school leaders to plan the next phase. We will soon be hosting parent carer coffee mornings in participating schools, creating space for discussion and connection. Meanwhile, the PINS project (Partnerships for Inclusion of Neurodiversity in Schools) is coming to the end of its first year, and we are awaiting news on whether it will be extended.
Read more about AIS and PINS here.
Solving the SEND Crisis Inquiry – The Education Committee’s new inquiry is looking at solutions to stabilise and improve the SEND system. PaCC has submitted a written response, which we will share once published, and we have also fed back to the National Network of Parent Carer Forums (NNPCF), ensuring parent carer voices are included at a national level.
Read more about solving the SEND crisis, here.
PaCC Awards – It’s our annual PaCC Awards on the 11th March, a time to celebrate those who have gone that bit extra for parent carers in Brighton & Hove and their families.
Other meetings and activities we have been involved in this year:
Become a Member of PaCC
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As always, we will continue to push for meaningful change while recognising and celebrating progress where it happens. If you have any experiences you’d like to share with us, please email us as [email protected]
All the best for the year ahead,
Becky
Chair of PaCC