We are independent parent carers working together to raise awareness and improve outcomes for all children with Special Educational Needs and/or Disabilities (SEND 0-25).

We work with organisations that provide services for our families. We are completely independent of the Local Council and Health services which lets us share the experiences and ideas of parent carers, giving them a voice and effect positive change.

While the forum is not a support group, we want to work with all support groups across the borough to ensure the voice of their members is heard. The forum is passionate that the collective voice of all families is being heard.

Our team is made up of parent carers with a wide range of backgrounds and experiences. We live in different places around the area, have children and young people with a range of ages and with a range of additional needs and disabilities.

Some of our team have their own additional needs and disabilities which helps them to bring a unique perspective to the work that we do, focusing on improving outcomes and experiences for our families in Solihull.

How are we funded?

The majority of the work that we do, is done on a voluntary basis. As a not-for-profit company, the Directors do not get paid for running the company or receive any dividends.

We have a grant from the Department for Education for £17,500 per year. This pays for all our parent engagement work and running costs and funds Heather 13 hours per week (minimum wage) for admin work. The time spent in strategic meetings is done on a voluntary basis.

We have a contract to provide a children and young person’s forum- Our Voices Heard, for £21,247.43 (for 2025/2026), this funds our Outreach Team to go in to schools across Solihull to work directly with children and young people and hear their voices and to hold participation sessions in the community. This also pays for a few admin hours from another member of the team.

We also have funding from the NHS to provide Autism in Schools work and Partnership for Inclusion of Neurodiversity in Schools work, again this funding pays our Outreach Team to deliver the sessions in schools and some admin from another member of the team.

We receive funding from Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health Provider Collaborative to undertake co-production work around Learning Disabilities and Autism.

Until October 2025, we have received some funding (via SMBC) from the Delivering Better Values grant from government, to deliver school engagement work in schools. Again,  this has funded our Outreach Team to work directly in schools.

On average in 2024 we worked 246 hours per week and receive funding for 109 hours per week.