Information for professionals

The Voice, Influence and Change Team at Leeds City Council collate and produce six monthly SEND voice and influence of children and young people with SEND and their parents and carers reports. 

The purpose of the report is to:

• Collate voice and influence work from across the city to share with children and families’ strategic boards, councillors and partners.
• Champion good practice and shine a light on the valuable work services and organisations do.
• Raise awareness of the big issues being shared by the children, young people and families.
• Help services and organisations to link with colleagues and encourage them to work in partnership to reduce duplication.
• Help services and organisations to deliver ‘best practice’ voice and influence by reflecting on their work in line with the 5 O’s model.

Reports

• October 2025 to March 2026
• April 2025 to September 2025
• October 2024 to March 2025
• April 2024 to September 2024
• October 2023 to March 2024

For more information about the report contacts email VIC@leeds.gov.uk 

The voice of children and young people is at the heart of everything we do in Leeds and our ambition for Leeds to be a Child Friendly City. Young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) have lots of opportunities to have their say in service review and development, and this short video provides information about these.

Having a voice and influence means that children, young people, parents and carers are supported to have their voices heard, to enable them to have an influence over decisions and actions that affect their lives and services they access.

It is the process in which children, young people, parents and carers are asked what works, what does not, what could work better and how they want to be involved in delivering the solution so that their voice can influence decision making and bring about change.

The Voice and Influence Team within Children and Families service have the responsibility for ensuring the voice of children and young people with SEND and their parents and carers are listened to and responded to when reviewing and developing SEND services in Leeds.

Children and young people

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Parents and Carers

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Background

• The VIC team evaluated how they were using voice and influence models in their everyday practice including advising teams and services about best practice.
• They identified a need to explore different voice and influence models and felt there was significant value in the ‘Pathways to Participation’ model (Shier 2001), which identifies three stages of adult commitment (openings, opportunities and obligations).
• The team decided to adapt ‘Pathways to Participation’ to include two additional commitments (outcome and ownership), resulting in ‘The 5 O’s’ model.

Purpose

• The purpose of the 5 O’s model is to support the VIC team to plan and evaluate their voice and influence programmes, as well as support other teams and services to do the same.
• Teams and services can use the model as a guide when they are involving, consulting and gathering the views of children, young people, parents and carers.
• It aligns with our city’s ambition to be the best city for children and young people, to be a Child Friendly City, and it demonstrates our commitment to working with children, young people, parents and carers so that their voices are at the heart of decisions that affect them.
• The model ensures that we are working towards, acting in accordance with and accountable to the Child Friendly Leeds wishes, Children and Young People’s Plan and other statutory requirements.

Stages of the 5 O's model

• Opening - Outline of the consultation or project including dates / timescales, who will be involved and the number of young people, parents and carers involved.
• Opportunity - Explanation of how young people, parents and carers will be involved including identification of the mechanisms being used.
• Obligation - Identification of strategic and statutory requirements that are fulfilled as a result of the consultation or project.
• Outcome - Evaluation of the consultation or project including what will / has changed as a result. Provision of evidence of the short and term long impact, as well as a feedback to the young people involved.
• Ownership - Details of the service and / or partnership responsible for overseeing the consultation or project.

Further information

Contact the Voice, Influence and Change team for further information, advice and support by emailing vic@leeds.gov.uk

Click here to download the 5 O's model for best practice. 

Click here to view a downloadable version of the voice and influence offer to services. 

Voice and Influence of Children & Young People

Voice and influence of parents and carers

For further information email VIC@leeds.gov.uk 

The Local Offer and SEND Voice and Influence Coordinator has the responsibility for ensuring children and young people with SEND have a voice and influence in key service development and reviews in Leeds.

Our offer is to coordinate the following programmes/projects:

Leeds SEND Youth Council 

A group of young people aged 11 to 25 years old with special educational needs and disabilities. 

The group meet twice a month in person, and once a month online to work on their own campaigns and projects as well as share their views with services. 

More information about the Leeds SEND Youth Council can be found here.

Takeover of the SEND and AP Improvement Board 

Takeover Challenge is a national initiative which enables young people to takeover the role of adults during the month of November. 

Each year students with SEND are invited to takeover the Leeds Area SEND and AP Improvement Board to speak to them about issues that are important to them. Students gain skills such as planning, team work, public speaking and working with professionals to achieve outcomes. 

Information about Takeover can be found here.

SEND Summit 

The SEND Summit provides an opportunity for students with SEND in Leeds to come together at Leeds Civic Hall to participate in consultations, share their school council successes and learn about services available to them within the city. 

Information about the SEND Summit can be found here.

Democracy Sessions (available all year round)

The Voice, Influence and Change Team offer 60-minute democracy sessions which can be delivered within the school setting at any point during the school year. The sessions focus on local democracy and introducing young people to voting. 

Compass House 

only available to specialist settings. 

Compass House is a work experience project for students with SEND in Leeds. Students come together to plan and host a pop up shop, making all the decisions about the shop and creating handmade products to sell. Students meet (with staff support) from September to December each year, and the shop is open for one week during the month of December. 

Taking part in the Compass House projects provides students with meaningful work experience as well as gaining skills such as working as a team, organisation, dealing with customers and working with money. 

Information about Compass House can be found here. 

For more information and to get involved in any of the projects contact vic@leeds.gov.uk 

You can download the voice and influence offer to schools here. 

The Voice, Influence and Change Team work in partnership with the Leeds Parent Carer Forum to ensure the voices of parents and carers are represented on strategic boards and in service reviews and developments. 

Click here for more information about parent carer voice in Leeds.

Creating online surveys for children, young people, parents and carers 

The Voice, Influence and Change Team have developed a short guide to developing online surveys for children, young people, parents and carers. 

Click here to open the guide. 

Activities to use when consulting with children and young people

The Voice, Influence and Change Team have developed a resource to support services when consulting with children and young people. The resource provides information about different consultation activities that can be used to gather the views of children and young people. 

Click here to download the resource. 

Involving parents and carers in recruitment and selection

The Voice, Influence and Change Team can support services to involve parents and carers of children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) in recruitment and selection.

Follow this guide to identify how you would like to involve parents and carers in recruitment and selection panels.

If you have any further questions you can contacting the Voice, Influence and Change Team at VIC@leeds.gov.uk 

Involving children and young people with SEND in recruitment and selection

The Voice, Influence and Change Team can support services to involve children and young people with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) in recruitment and selection.

Follow this guide to identify how you would like to involve young people in recruitment and selection panels.

If you have any further questions you can contact the Voice, Influence and Change Team at VIC@leeds.gov.uk 

Voice of the child or young person school resource pack

This pack explains the why and how of eliciting pupil’s views/perceptions about school and their learning and asks practitioners to ask the question ‘what is the outcome?’.

The pack consists of questionnaires and activities designed to support practitioners in schools. They are designed for pupils with special educational needs.

Click here to download the resource. 

If you would like any more information after reading the resource pack you can contact the SENIT team on:

• Tel: 0113 378 5431
• Email: SENIT@leeds.gov.uk

Youth voice in policymaking (guidance)

This guidance was developed by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) to help policy officials engage with young people in a way that benefits them and leads to better policy outcomes. It relates to young people aged 11 to 18 and sometimes up to the age of 25 (depending on the specific types of opportunity and group being engaged).

The guidance provides a step by step introduction to reasons, methods and approaches for engaging young people in policymaking.

Click here to view the guidance.