Support for armed forces families

If you are a service family and have concerns about your child's learning or they have additional needs or disabilities, there is a great deal of help available to you. We appreciate sometimes knowing where to start or asking for help can be difficult, so wanted to provide the details of the support available to armed forces families.

• What to do if you think your child has Additional Needs or Disabilities?
• Childcare and Early Years
• Education and training
• Transport
• Support for parents and carers
• Support for family members
• Further support

What to do if you think your child has Additional Needs or Disabilities?

If you are unsure about what Additional Needs and Disabilities are, you may like to take a look at our information about specific types of Special Educational Need web page.

Our What to do if you think your child has Additional Needs or Disabilities? page includes information on who to contact should you have any concerns about your child's learning or development and how you can approach these conversations.

Childcare and Early Years

The Childcare section of our website, provides details of some of the practical and financial support available during your child's early years. The following services may also be helpful:

• Specialist Early Education Service (SEES) is a home visiting support service for families of pre-school children with additional needs. SEES professionals are experienced in working closely with families. They endeavour to engage with and support young children through a play-based approach.
• Surrey Early Support Service provides support to families of children aged 0 to 5 who have disabilities or complex medical needs. They will give you information about support that is available to you and your family. They will visit you at home, keep in touch with you regularly, make referrals and applications to services you want to access and offer support through groups and family support.

Education and training

• The Education and training section of our website provides details of how to find and apply for schools and the support available in schools.
• The Learners' Single Point of Access (L-SPA) are a dedicated service set up by Surrey County Council for parents and practitioners should they have concerns about a child or young person's learning or development. The L-SPA process all EHC plan requests and also discuss other requests for support.

Transport

Not all young people with additional needs or disabilities will need help travelling to school or training, but if you do, this is called Travel Assistance. You can find out more about the eligibility criteria for this on our Travel Assistance web page, or Family Voice Surrey and Surrey County Council have also coproduced a Home to school transport guide for parents/carers.

Support for parents and carers

There are many support options available to carers, including assistance with finances or more practical matters. Our Carers' guide to support and Funding, grants and financial assistance web page provides details of these.

• Family Voice Surrey champions the needs and rights of families with additional needs in Surrey. This includes families with children or young adults up to the age of 25 who have special educational needs, chronic illnesses, including mental health conditions, or disabilities.

Support for family members

Family life can be a bit different for children and young people when their brother or sister has special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), our Support for sibling and young carers web page provides details of activities that siblings can do together, help for young carers and financial assistance.

Further support

You may find the following services helpful.

Support for service people:

• The Armed Forces page of the Surrey County Council website has detailed information including details of Veterans' Hubs, and support for Surrey's armed forces community.
• Forces Connect is a free UK-wide mobile app that signposts members of the armed forces community to local and national support and advice. You can download it by searching Forces Connect in the Apple app or Google Play store.

Additional needs and Disability specific support services:

• Action for Carers supports carers of all ages across Surrey by providing advice and support. The support they offer can be by phone, through face-to face meetings, support groups and workshops. They also provide benefits advice, advocacy, give practical guidance on moving and handling, and provide a wealth of information and free resources.
• SEND Advice Surrey offer impartial, confidential, free advice and support throughout the EHC assessment and planning process.
• IPSEA (Independent Providers of Special Education Advice) offer an information service that provides information on the law relating to special educational needs and disability.
• Contact offer a free helpline with education specialist advisors who can advise you on any aspect of your child's education.