The co-production groups Portsmouth Parent Voice, Dynamite young people’s SEND group and the Inclusion Service at Portsmouth City Council compiled evidence to identify common themes and issues raised by young people or parent/carers during 2025-2026.

This information has been collected and evidenced mainly through monthly What’s Trending meetings attended by Portsmouth Parent Voice, Portsmouth SENDIASS and Portsmouth City Council Inclusion Service, through Shaping Better Futures Together (SBFT), the monthly co-production meeting run by Portsmouth Parent voice and attended by parents, carers and professionals, and through Dynamite’s regular monthly meetings.

The main themes for 2025-2026 can be seen below with the actions taken.

You said:

We would like more information on dealing with anxiety and emotional well-being at home.

We have:

Hosted two Local Offer Live events that have featured talks from the Neurodiversity Team, MHST, and Kooth, giving families information and guidance on techniques to try at home and ways to seek support.

Families can access the online resource – Back to Basics – empowering parents and carers to support their child’s emotional wellbeing.  It focuses on making small, practical everyday changes based on the 5 Ways to Wellbeing (Connect, Be Active, Take Notice, Keep Learning, and Give)

We have worked with services such as PPV, the ND team and MHST to develop workshops for parent/carers around supporting their young person, and are delivering these sessions through the Parent Hub offer within the city.

You said:

The Short-Breaks Offer should better reflect the needs of families.

We have:

PPV hosted co-production sessions with parent/carers and local services to understand what is needed from the Short Breaks Offer. This was fed back to Head of Children’s Services and Head of Children’s Social Care. With this information, the Short Breaks offer has been revised to give more opportunities to families, and will make sure parent/carers in Paulsgrove are more able to access Short Breaks.

You said:

More needs to be done to improve travel for young people with SEND across Portsmouth.

We have:

Dynamite have worked with Stagecoach and PCC Transport Team. They have promoted Hidden Disability Awareness and campaigned for “please offer me a seat” badges. They also carried out a Young Inspection on the Try the Train scheme and have given their feedback to South Western Railways.

PCC continue to work on the Travel Training offer to give young people with SEND the opportunity to learn how to travel with peers.

• Continued support and promotion of the Seekers Travel Club who meet weekly to provide opportunities for young people with SEND in Travel Training. They had a significant presence at the Local Offer Live in June 26, engaging many young people in their activities.
• Continuing the partnership from previous years with Enable Ability, Travel Training for young people will be delivered during September and October 2026.