A summary of the event

We began with a little bit about the SEND landscape in Birmingham before walking through our own co-production journey. Pam Armstrong, the chair of the Birmingham Parent Carer Forum, shared some of the challenges the Parent Carer Forum (PCF) have faced in recent years, but also the positives as co-production has become more focused within the city.  

Birmingham’s Participation and Engagement Officer, Lakhvir Sahota, also spoke about some of the initiatives that have been developed to embed co-production into SEND services and provided each region with time to share their own journeys and plans for the future.

Sharing the Discussion

The event was, of course, centred on collaboration. Hearing so many different ideas and perspectives was really insightful and valuable in identifying good co-production practice and understanding how others have overcome the common challenges faced by local PCFs. We certainly took a lot away from hearing all about each area’s unique journey. 

On top of this, each area also worked together on a task to co-design what is important to them when working together as a local area partnership. We hope that this prompted valuable discussion between different parent carer forums, and also with those colleagues representing local authorities. 

Funding provided by the West Midlands Regional Group

As part of an initiative to improve co-production and engagement, Birmingham was awarded £63,800 by the West Midlands Regional Group. It was agreed by local PCF leads that this funding would be shared between the local areas to support co-production development across the whole West Midlands.  

Thank you again to everyone who took the time to attend the event. We hope you found the content valuable. Above all, it was brilliant to be able to share important updates, spotlight such great work and to bring together ideas and plans for the future!