Who are the Voice and Participation Team?

We are a team in West Sussex County Council who work to ensure the voice of young people and families we work with are heard.

On this page you can find information, resources, forms and tools to support the work we do.

For more information and latest updates follow us on Instagram (opens in new tab) and Tiktok (opens in new tab).

What do you do?

The Voice and Participation Team at West Sussex County Council ensures children, families and young people's voices are listened to.

We run the Children in Care Council, Care Leaver's Advisory Board (opens in new tab), the Special Educational Needs and/or Disabilities (SEND) groups, Youth Cabinet along with working with our UASC and young parents.

We run the Exceptional People in Care (EPIC) Awards as well as our Care Leavers Celebration Events every year. We listen to a wide variety of voices and make sure that this leads directly to influence and change in services and provisions.

How can I involve young people's voices in my work?

There are many way to involve and include young people's voices in your work, and we are happy to advise!

If you have a consultation request, then first take a look at our site by clicking the link here: Consultation Work. If you can't find the information you are looking for, or have a new consultation request, then please complete the survey at the end of the page.

How do I get in touch?

For more information, please do contact Toby Wilson, Voice and Participation Team Manager, toby.wilson@westsussex.gov.uk.

Alternate formats

If you require any of the information in an alternative format, then please contact us via email at toby.wilson@westsussex.gov.uk or by telephone on 0330 222 3314 and we will do our best to assist you. If you are deaf or hard of hearing and have an NGT texting app installed on your computer, laptop or smartphone, you can contact us on 18001 0330 222 3314.

Please note, you can use the Google Translate function to access this project in a range of different languages. The Google Translate widget can be found at the top left-hand side of the project page, where it sits just above the black West Sussex County Council ribbon.

For more information about the accessibility of this website, please read the Your Voice Engagement Hub Accessibility Statement (opens in new window).

Data protection/Privacy notice

The Voice and Participation team will use this questionnaire to collect personal and special category data the processing of which is necessary to enable us to be compliant with the law (general well-being duties), and for reasons of substantial public interest. The data will be processed in accordance with the 2018 Data Protection Act, the General Data Protection Regulations, and any subsequent data protection legislation. The data we collect be securely stored and kept for period of up to 2 years before being appropriately destroyed. The data we will collect will not be used for any other purpose than that stated above without your prior written consent. West Sussex County Council is registered as Data Controller (Reg. No. Z6413427). For further details and information about our Data Controller, please see www.westsussex.gov.uk/privacy-policy.