What we do - Have your say! - Consultations

Presentation to Help You Respond to the Government's SEND Consultation

Helping You Navigate the SEND Reform Proposals

We know the government’s SEND reform proposals are long, detailed and at times difficult to work through. To support parent carers in Wiltshire, we’ve created a [short online presentation] that aims to break the information down into clear, more manageable sections. The presentation is around 13 minutes long and highlights the key points we believe are most relevant to families of SEND children and young people.

While it isn’t possible to cover every detail from the full document, the presentation focuses on the areas that matter most to parent carers and aims to make the national consultation easier to understand.


Supporting You to Respond to the Consultation

The national consultation includes 39 questions, and you can answer as many or as few as you wish. Your responses will help us shape a strong, informed submission on behalf of Wiltshire parent carers, ensuring your collective voice is represented at national level.

At the end of the presentation, you’ll find a link to our interactive survey, which contains the same 39 questions published by the Department for Education (DfE). All responses submitted through our survey will be anonymised before being included in our final submission.


A Note About the Wording of the Questions

The questions in our interactive survey come directly from the DfE. This means some questions may use wording such as “we”, which refers to the DfE rather than to us locally. A small number of questions have been paraphrased where character limits required it, but the meaning has been kept the same.

Remember, you only need to answer the questions you wish to. If a question doesn’t apply to you or you’d prefer not to respond, simply press ‘skip’.


Complete the Survey at Your Own Pace

You don’t need to complete the survey in one sitting; you can return to it as many times as you need, which we hopes makes it a little easier to reflect and respond when it suits you.

To allow us enough time to collate all responses and prepare our submission, all survey responses must be submitted by 11am on 14th May 2026.


Your Voice Shapes What Happens Next

We will continue working closely with the Local Authority to ensure that the lived experiences of families in Wiltshire remain central to local planning and decision‑making. Your insights are vital in helping to shape meaningful change, both locally and nationally.

Click [HERE] to view our presentation.

Thank you in advance for taking the time to share your views.

Help Shape the Future of SEND Mediation

As part of Wiltshire Council’s work to refresh and improve the SEND Mediation Service, we’re pleased to share this interactive presentation that gives some background to the service, why it is being recommissioned and an opportunity to share your views to help shape the future of the service.

Wiltshire Council wants to make sure the service truly reflects the needs and experiences of the children, young people, families, and carers who use it. To help do this, we are inviting you to contribute your thoughts, experiences and views, which you can do via the interactive Mentimeter questions embedded in the presentation. Your feedback will help commissioners understand what’s working well and where they can make meaningful improvements.

The interactive presentation provides an overview of the service and explains the insights the Council hopes to gather through this engagement. The presentation is about 11 minutes long and can be paused at any time, giving you the opportunity to watch and participate at a time and pace that suits.

Thank you in advance for taking part and helping shape the future of the SEND Mediation Service. To watch the presentation and participate, please click [HERE].

The interactive element of the presentation will close on Sunday 19th April 2026. The WPCC will then collate responses and present a report to Wiltshire Council commissioners.

Help Shape the Future of SEND Support in Wiltshire – Parent Carer Co-Design Events

Following the recent publication of the government’s consultation on proposals to reform the SEND system, every local area has been asked to develop a first Local SEND Reform Plan. This plan is about laying the foundations for change; strengthening early support in schools and settings, increasing specialist provision, and designing a new Experts at Hand offer that brings specialist practitioners into early years, schools and post 16 settings more regularly.

Parent carers must be at the heart of shaping what happens next. That’s why the Local Authority is working in partnership with the Wiltshire Parent Carer Council (WPCC) to host a series of co-design events for parent carers. These sessions are a chance to share what’s working, what isn’t, and what needs to change, so future SEND support in Wiltshire works better for children, young people and their families. Parent carer views will directly influence Wiltshire’s Local SEND Reform Plan, including the Universal Offer, early years support, post 16 pathways and how services work together in the future.

Parent carer co-design sessions (co-hosted with WPCC):

• Friday 24th April, 10:00am to 12:30pm (face to face, Devizes): https://www.eventbrite.com/e/1985730387042
• Tuesday 28th April, 4:00pm to 6:00pm (online): https://www.eventbrite.com/e/1985731798263
• Friday 1st May, 10:00am to 12:00pm (online): https://www.eventbrite.com/e/1985732360946

To book your place for one of these sessions, please click the appropriate Eventbrite link above. If you need help to book your place, please phone the WPCC on: 01225 764647 (option 1). Anyone who books to join one of the online sessions will be sent a joining closer to the date of their session.

We strongly encourage parent carers to take part. It is really important that your insight, challenge and ideas help shape the future of SEND support in our area; the LA looks forward to working with you to build a stronger, more inclusive system together.

Have Your Say on Enhanced Learning Provision (ELP) in Wiltshire Secondary Schools

Wiltshire Council is carrying out a review of Enhanced Learning Provision (ELP) in mainstream secondary schools.

ELP is additional funding that is given to each secondary school to support children with a high level of special educational needs. These learners will most usually have Communication and Interaction needs (including autism) and/or Cognition and Learning needs, and will have an Education Health and Care Plan (EHCP). ELP is different to the support provided by Secondary Resource Bases.

Colleagues from Wiltshire Council would like to have a conversation with parent carers of pupils with EHCPs who are being supported in their mainstream secondary school, receiving additional and tailored support due to their complex needs and inclusion support. If you are a parent carer of a primary pupil aged with an EHCP who is preparing to transfer to mainstream secondary and may require ELP, we would also be keen for you to be part of the conversation, as we are keen to hear your views and ideas also.

Examples of the types of ELP support by secondary schools might be:

• through support in a nurturing environment for part of the school day,
  
• being part of enhanced literacy and numeracy sessions,
  
• additional intervention in school such as specific therapies or one to one tuition
  

These are merely examples; individual secondary schools approach ELP support differently as there is no standardised model at the moment.

We are holding two online engagement sessions on Wednesday 29th April which will be jointly facilitated by the WPCC and a representative from Wiltshire Council:

• 10.30am to 12.00pm
  
• 4.30pm to 6.00pm
  

These conversations will be informal and friendly and are aimed at helping the Local Authority plan for future Enhanced Learning Provision in the secondary phase.

If you are interested in being part of this important review and to share your views and experiences, please click [HERE] to book your place on your preferred session. The WPCC will contact everyone who has booked to attend at least a day before their chosen session with the joining link.