About PACC

Each year PACC submits an application of up to £17,500 for the Department For Education Participation Grant. The grant is manged by Contact on behalf of the DFE and funds PACC’s main organisational costs and administrative support. PACC receives funding from other sources for specific projects, such as the Actio Partnership and the PFA Navigator Project or receives payment for providing participation services to other organisations. Details of the funding received by PACC each year are published on the Charity Commission website and in PACC’s Annual Report.

No. PACC is a registered Charity managed by Shropshire parent carers and is a stand-alone organisation with no political affiliations. In our role as ‘critical friends’ we do work closely with decision makers in education, health and social care, to ensure that parent carers experiences and views influence service design and delivery.

Because PACC is run by parent carers we understand the challenges SEND families face on a daily basis and the impact this can have. PACC will listen to your concerns and experiences and provide support and information to help you to navigate the SEND system. PACC representatives will share your experiences of services with local decision makers to champion positive changes to the SEND system. PACC provides opportunities for you and your family to meet other SEND families in a supportive environment, building friendships, reducing the isolation often experienced and creating positive memories together.

PACC wants to hear from Shropshire SEND family about their experience of the local SEND system and the support they receive. Its is important to share information about what is working or not working for your family to inform PACC’s work with local services and decision makers.

You can sign up to the PACC Mailing list so that PACC can contact you to ensure that accurate information is regularly shared with the Shropshire SEND Community. You can also share your experience by following PACC on Facebook, joining one of PACC’s closed Facebook groups, completing PACC survey’s and attending PACC events. Alot of PACC’s activity is delivered on a voluntary basis, so there are also opportunities to discuss getting more involved with supporting events or representing the Shropshire SEND community at meetings.

PACC cannot advocate for or represent individual Parent Carers where they are in conflict with the local system. Where there is an issue being experienced by a number of families, PACC will work with individual families to develop case studies to inform our discussions with local decision makers and work to address that issue.

PACC is able to provide personalised signposting to individual Parent Carers through our All-Age Navigator Offer. This includes supporting SEND families to access other services that are specifically funded to provide advice and guidance for Parent Carers, such as Shropshire SENDIASS and key resources and information that Parent Carers might find useful in their individual circumstances.

In some cases, Navigators will highlight individual situations where they are concerned that the right support is not being provided or a family might be approaching crisis. In these cases, permission to share information will always be secured from the family before any details are shared with practitioners.

If a Navigator has safeguarding concerns, they will follow the Shropshire Council safeguarding process.

Find out more about the PACC Navigator Offer on our Community Support Section

PACC champions the use of the term Parent Carer in recognition of the additional responsibilities and work that being a parent of a child or young person brings. Through the Children and Families Act 2014, SEND families supported by the National Network of Parent Carer Forums, secured formal recognition of the Parent Carer role and the same level of support for this group of carers as offered to carers of individual’s aged 18 and over. Now Parent Carers own support needs and wellbeing should be recognised and considered, and support can be requested through a Parent Carer Needs Assessment

When a young person becomes 18 family members who provide support are recognised as Carers under the Care Act 2014. PACC identify Carers who are part of the SEND Community as SEND Family Carers. This group are eligible to request a Carers Assessment to explore their own support and wellbeing needs.

There has been increased research on how being a Parent Carer can impact your physical and mental health and why support for this group is so important. Affinity Hub offers emotional support for parent carers of disabled children and adults. Their work suggests many Parent Carers experience traumatic events, both major events (‘Big T’ trauma) and ‘small t’ cumulative and ongoing traumas (Griffin, 2021; Emerson, 2019). For example;

• A parent whose child displays behaviours that challenge, and the parent is regularly hit at home. They feel ashamed and don’t share this with anyone. Help is not easy to access. The parents manage this by very rarely going out, they lose contact with friends and support networks.

• A parent who experienced birth trauma having to regularly attend the same hospital, or similar, where the initial trauma happened. A father who witnessed his partner and child almost dying due to birth complications. Factors such as stressful waits for appointments, witnessing invasive medical procedures or having to repeat difficult histories can retrigger the initial trauma. Even seemingly small incidents (a report being lost) take on heightened sense of ‘risk’. For some parent’s birth trauma is compounded by how information about their child’s diagnosis or prognosis has been delivered.

• A parent becomes battle weary due to the constant “fight” for services or respite and negotiating across complex appeal systems and multiple agencies. They feel ostracised, misunderstood and sometimes not believed. Sometimes the hard-fought-for service requires great effort to maintain on the part of the already exhausted parent. You can read more about this work here

Birmingham University has carried out specific research into Parent Carer suicide risk, which has inspired a short film called More than A Parent. You can find out more about the research and watch the film on a new campaign website launched by the University, where there is an option for people to send a letter to their MP, highlighting the research and calling for change. Please note that film may be distressing for those of you who are parent carers – please only watch it if you feel able and reach out to the Samaritans on 116 123 if you need support.

What can help?

Peer Support: Being a Parent Carer can be incredibly isolating, and many Parent Carers have shared that loneliness is a major challenge. Spending time with other Parent Carers can help with this, they can offer an understanding of your life, share some of your concerns and provide valuable information about local support and things to think about. PACC events and activities provide opportunities to meet other Parent Carers and SEND Family Carers, this can be through joining us at conferences or workshops or participating in our Community Support offer.

Healthy Parent Carer Programme: We know that Parent Carers often prioritise the needs of their children and do not necessarily consider their own needs or health. The Healthy Parent Carer Programme is a course offered by PACC in partnership with ‘Kids Shropshire’ which supports Parent Carers and SEND Family Carers to come together and consider their own wellbeing.

Visit PACC’s Community Support pages to find out more.

Short Breaks: Short Breaks offer opportunities for Parent Carers to have a break from caring responsibilities and opportunities for children and young people to experience new places and activities with others outside their family. The Shropshire Short Breaks Statement tells you more about what is available locally for SEND Families. You can also find out more about support for SEND families from Children’s Social Care on the Signposting and Myth-busting section of this website.

The current PACC Constitution can be found here

An extended Annual Report for the period, November 2023 to April 2025 is available here

Past Annual Reports are available in our Influence and Change Section.

Code of Conduct

Equality and Diversity policy

Safeguarding Children and Vulnerable Adults

Financial Control Policy

Membership Form Data Notes

Social Media Policy