Sharing your feedback and getting involved in improvement projects is a great way to help shape our services for all families.
Page contents
- How to get involved
- Ways to get involved and help shape services
- You said, we listened, together we – how feedback is shaping services
How to get involved
User Voice and Participation Team
- Parents, carers, children and young people can register interest with our User Voice and Participation Team. Email user.voice@surreycc.gov.uk to receive updates about opportunities to share your views across a wide range of projects and areas across SEND services.
- Parents, carers and professionals can register interest on the collaborate with Surrey Youth Voice page
- Children and young people can register interest on the Get involved with Surrey Youth Voice page
- You can read about the impact the User Voice and Participation Team have had on shaping services on the Surrey Youth Voice website.
Family Voice Surrey
- Family Voice Surrey is a parent/carer forum who provide support, share knowledge and empowerment to improve opportunities for our children. Family Voice Surrey champions the needs and rights of SEND families in Surrey: families with children or young adults up to the age of 25 who have special educational needs, and chronic illnesses, including mental health conditions, or disabilities. Parents and carers do not need diagnosis and all staff at Family Voice Surrey are parents or carers themselves.
You can also provide your feedback by using this form:
Feedback about our Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) services
Ways to get involved and help shape services
We welcome parent and carers with lived experience or an interest in Additional Needs and Disabilities to join us, share their voice, and help shape the future of services in Surrey.
What will we be looking at?
We will work together to:
- Improve pages about EHC plans/EHC needs assessments and early help
- Look at how we can present information on the Local Offer in the clearest way
When? March to May 2026
How to get involved? Email: user.voice@surreycc.gov.uk
What will we be looking at?
We will be forming a reference group of parents and carers, to help co-produce, shape, review and improve the Local Offer website content.
This might include spotting things to improve, helping to write new content and checking the tone is friendly and the information is useful.
When? March 2026 onwards (regular commitment)
How to get involved? Email: user.voice@surreycc.gov.uk
What will we be looking at?
Co-production of the SEND Self-Evaluation Framework (SEF) involves local authorities, health services, schools, and parent-carer forums working as equal partners to review services and identify improvements.
This project will involve working together to agree content and final documentation prior to publication.
This collaborative approach ensures that the voices of children, young people, and their families directly influence strategic planning, identifying both strengths and gaps in local provision.
When? March and April 2026
How to get involved? Email: user.voice@surreycc.gov.uk
What will we be looking at?
We will produce a shared agreement that explains how we work together with children, young people and families to shape decisions and services that affect them.
When? May 2026
How to get involved? Email: user.voice@surreycc.gov.uk
Ongoing feedback and improvement
What are we looking at?
We are looking at how we can ensure our services are of good quality. Each month, a sample of parent/carers will be selected at random, contacted and invited to share their recent experience of the EHCP process, to inform how we can improve.
When?
Ongoing from March 2026
What are we looking at?
Finding simple ways to collect feedback, so we can respond quickly.
- EHCP process - feedback questions will be included at key points within the EHCP 20 week process.
- Communications- we will be asking for your views when we publish a selection of news articles and updates to better understand your experience.
When?
These temperature checks will begin to be rolled out from March and April 2026
Projects currently underway
There are a number of projects already underway, which are benefiting from your engagement and feedback.
What are we looking at?
We are working with parents and carers and young people to create guiding principles that will support all the Local Offer website content.
When?
16 and 24 February and 21 April 2026
What are we looking at?
Updating the SEND Improvements section in the Local Offer website
When?
5 March 2026
What are we looking at?
Open to Family Voice Surrey members only
Continuing SEND improvement work, looking at specific parts of processes
- The parental request form for EHC needs assessment
- The personal budgets guidance.
When?
February and March 2026 (via Family Voice Surrey)
What are we looking at?
OAP is the support schools make available to children when they need extra help. We are gathering feedback to improve the OAP Parent Carer Guide. This work is being completed with Family Voice Surrey’s network and is the continuation of a project evaluating OAP.
When?
10 February Family Voice Surrey Webinar. Survey open for one month.
What you've shared about being involved
It has been refreshing to be listened to and valued. Sharing our experiences has been helpful and confirming we are not alone in our experiences.
We have always been appreciated and thanked for our time and effort. It is rewarding and fulfilling to help shape the development of the Local Offer and other information.
It is gratifying to help others get information that is accurate, balanced and honest. Thanks for including me in this project.
Feedback received about our Local Offer projects
Do you have a suggestion for an area we should be working on?
If there are other areas you think we should be working together to improve services, you can let us know via: user.voice@surreycc.gov.uk
You said, we listened, together we – how feedback is shaping services
Find out ways we've already acted on feedback you've given us.
You said:
We would like the Education, Health and Care plan process to be clearer
We did:
1. We have created guides to making the Education, Health and Care Plan process clearer
Together with groups of parents and multi-agency partners, we’ve created a new set of simple, easy to follow graphics that explain each key stage of the EHC plan process. These visuals show how decisions are made and how we work together to support children and young people with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND).
2. We hold regular Education Health Care Needs Assessment (EHCNA) information sessions for parents and carers
We now have regular meetings every two weeks for families who have received a “yes to assess” decision. These meetings offer information and guidance, and answer questions about the Education Health Care Needs Assessment (EHCNA) process. Over 200 parents and carers have attended these sessions in the first 3 months and have told us the meetings are helpful, clear and accessible. We use feedback from these meetings to adapt the content of the sessions. If your child is being assessed for an Education, Health and Care Plan you will be given details of an upcoming session where you can find out more about the process.
You said:
We need to be better communicating clearly and consistently and gathering and responding to feedback effectively.
We did:
We have developed a Family and Partner Engagement Plan, which details our plans to improve communication and feedback for families and partners in Additional Needs and Disability services.
You can read about actions taken in response to comments about the Local Offer on our Local Offer feedback page.