Carers' Attendance at PEP Meetings

The PEP supports a young person’s access to education.

As a child in care, as well as ensuring the voice of the young person is key throughout this process, the thoughts, feelings, and opinions of carers is also of paramount importance. The child spends the majority of their time either at school or at home so insight from both these parties are significant drivers to ensuring a successful PEP.

The Virtual School has collated data from the last academic year which shows that on average, carers attend approximately 75% of all PEPs. We would like carers to be present and contribute to all PEPs.

Attendance from carers at PEPs for primary aged children was at 83% which was a small increase from the previous year. For secondary aged young people, the level of attendance remained at 74% but most concerning was the drop in attendance of carers at Early Years PEPs, going down from 83%  to 69%.

Please can social workers, who are responsible for arranging PEPs, ensure that carers are invited and are given adequate notice to be able to attend. Dates for the next PEP are set in the previous PEP meeting so please can these dates be shared with the carers straight away.