Strengthening Our Forum for the Future – Important Update from Family Voice Surrey

Dear Parent Carers and Partners,

 

Further to our last update in June, we want to share important developments about how Family Voice Surrey (FVS), your parent carer forum, is evolving.

 

Why We’re Making Changes

Like many charities, FVS is experiencing significant financial pressure. This includes:

  • Rising operational costs and wage increases
  • Loss of local council funding
  • Declining income despite growing demand

At the same time, feedback from families has made it clear: FVS needs to better reflect the parent carer experiences across Surrey and provide more ways for underrepresented families to be heard.

We also recognise that parental satisfaction with Surrey County Council is at an all-time low. This is deeply challenging for families and for us as a forum. It reinforces the importance of our work — ensuring your voices are not only heard but used to influence the decisions that affect your children.

To meet these financial and systemic challenges, we must do things differently.

 

What’s Changing

FVS remains fully committed to strengthening its engagement and representation of parent carers across the county, but we are going to have to do this with fewer staff and in different ways.

More recently, we have delivered several impactful projects, including:

  • PINS in primary schools
  • The Local Offer Showcase
  • The Ordinary Available Provision – Revision and relaunch of the guidance and development of a parent guide

These programmes have enabled broad, pan Surrey engagement and more targeted work to promote inclusion. We are committed to building on these successes to further our reach and impact — for example, focusing future participation work in mainstream primary and secondary schools, and holding themed events on key topics and family fun days.

A special mention: the PINS project in Surrey has gained national recognition. Well done to the team for all their hard work on that!

Sadly, this return to our core purpose means we will no longer be able to sustain the Borough Coordinator roles or some of the wellbeing events they have hosted.

From 1st October 2025, we will be working with a smaller core team centred around parent participation and providing a Surrey wide participation and engagement offer.

 

Our New Structure

To deliver this next phase, we are introducing a more integrated team model:

  • One Core Participation Team, working countywide instead of in district silos
  • A Team of Project Workers will work alongside the core team to deliver targeted participation projects, ensuring that key areas and topics continue to receive focused attention — for example, EBSNA (Emotionally Based School Nonattendance) groups, 16+ groups, and other specific community needs
  • New Key Roles:
    • Coproduction Coordinator – ensuring our work reflects parent carer priorities and expands our reach
    • Communication & Member Lead – improving how we engage, share updates, and include more families
  • A Change Manager will support the strategic transition and development during this period

We are deeply grateful to all team members — both those staying and those sadly leaving — for their dedication and contributions. Huge thanks especially to the District and Borough Coordinators — many of whom are staying on as project workers or within the core team. Your work has been vital to FVS.

 

Working in Partnership – with Independence

As of today, we have not yet signed our 2025 contract with Surrey County Council. We have taken time to ensure any agreement protects our independence and ability to challenge constructively where needed. We are hopeful that we will reach an agreement very soon.

We are also pleased to share that we have secured development support from Contact, our national parent carer forum partner. Their expertise will help us strengthen our structure and strategy during this transition.

These developments come at a time when the national landscape is also shifting – including proposals in the SEND and AP Improvement Plan, such as potential reforms to EHCPs in the Government’s upcoming White Paper. These changes may have real impact on our community, and we are preparing to ensure families’ voices are part of that dialogue.

 

Looking Ahead – Strengthening Voices Together

We are also working alongside other parent carer forums in the Southeast to share learning and collaborate on shared challenges. Together, we aim to strengthen our collective voice, particularly on regional and national issues that affect families across local authority borders.

We are excited about the growing interest in our new Steering Group, and we’d like to thank everyone who has expressed a willingness to be involved. This group is not just about giving feedback — it’s about coproducing the future of Family Voice Surrey with you.

We will be in touch shortly with everyone who expressed interest, to begin shaping how the group will operate together. The Steering Group will:

  • Help set priorities for the forum based on lived experience
  • Work collaboratively with Trustees and staff to shape direction and future focus
  • Support us in making decisions that reflect a wide range of parent carer voices
  • Strengthen the governance and accountability of the forum through shared ownership

We look forward to building this group together — and ensuring that our next steps as a forum are shaped with the community, not just for it.

 

A Note About Campaigning

We’re sometimes asked why FVS doesn’t campaign for things like increased SEND funding.

As a parent carer forum funded in part by the Department for Education (DfE), we are not permitted to lead public campaigns. However, we can share information about SEND related campaigns and advocacy groups. We often share the same aims and work alongside campaigners to achieve improvements for families.

 

AGM Rescheduled – Apology and Next Steps

We want to acknowledge that we had previously committed to holding our 2024 Annual General Meeting (AGM) in September, and we recognise that this time has now passed.

We are sorry for the delay.

The need to focus on critical restructuring, staffing changes, and funding discussions meant that we could not proceed in the way we had planned. We want to be transparent about the challenges we’ve faced — and ensure that when the AGM does take place, it reflects the future direction of FVS and gives space for meaningful input from our members.

We are now working towards holding the AGM later this autumn and will share a confirmed date very soon. The meeting will include a full update on our finances, governance, and structure, as well as opportunities for member engagement.

Thank you for your patience and continued support.

 

Thank you for your continued support, engagement, and trust. This is a time of change — but also a time of renewal. Together, we can build a forum that reflects the full experience of parent carers across Surrey and continues to be a strong, inclusive voice for SEND families.

 

With appreciation,
Sally, Sarah, Amie & Andrew
Trustees, Family Voice Surrey