Spectrum FAQ

Spectrum provides multi-award-winning events and support for children with Autism, additional needs, learning difficulties and disabilities, alongside their families and carers. We are parent-led, family-focused and passionate about inclusion and reducing isolation. Spectrum has won both the Cambridgeshire Live Community Awards & Luminus Inspiration Awards for our work with families, alongside team member awards.

We are also incredibly proud to have been recognised for our work and support during COVID by The Crown and Her Majesty.

We are registered with the Charity Commission in England & Wales (117916)

Joining Spectrum is really simple. Just head over to our Membership form and complete the required details. Our membership is currently free.

Please ensure that you provide a clear overview of your child’s conditions and current situation, along with relevant evidence.

Once we have received your request via our Membership Sign-Up page, it will be checked and processed. If you meet our criteria for additional needs, then we will send across a welcome email including your Spectrum membership number. As soon as you have this number, you can then access our services like events, support and the Max Card, for example, using your membership number.

Once you have this number, you can also access our Private Spectrum Members Only group on Facebook.

When applying for membership with us, please ensure you take note of all guidance given and the expected turn around time.

No. Any child with additional needs is welcome, regardless of whether you have just started the journey for a diagnosis with your GP and education setting, or if a formal diagnosis is already in place, as long as it can be evidenced. We cater for any child from pre-birth, where a diagnosis is made antenatally, up to 18 years old, who are welcome to attend.

Spectrum HQ is based in Cambridge, and Spectrum Cambridge is our full official name; however, most people simply know us as Spectrum.

Our core work is around East Anglia, but our members come from across the UK, and we see referrals from all counties. We cover the vast majority of the UK as a leading distribution partner for Max Card.

Definitely! If you have friends, colleagues, etc who also have children with additional needs, then please do feel free to recommend Spectrum to them.

As with any member, they will need to complete the Spectrum membership and meet our criteria to access our services.

If you are a registered member at Spectrum, then you can join our dedicated private Facebook group for members only.

Simply click on the option to request to join the group, and you will be prompted to enter your Spectrum Membership number (starts with the letters SC). Once you have done this, one of our team admins will spot it, check it and add you to the group. That’s it!

Please note that if no membership number is entered or an incorrect one is provided, the request will be denied.

Accessing the Spectrum Support team for SEND support is extremely easy, but you must be registered with us beforehand.

Simply drop an email to support@spectrum.org.uk, making sure to include the following information.

• Your full name and Spectrum membership number
• The name and date of birth of the child registered with us, for who the support is for
• A good, clear overview of the present situation
• What you need help with achieving

Our team covers many areas of family work, such as challenging behaviours, developmental differences, mental health, toiletry issues, sleep, interventions, EHCP, DLA and PIP, to name but a few. We would highly recommend catching up with the team to see if you have already taken or are just starting on your journey towards a possible diagnosis. They will be happy to help. The areas of support we provide are continually expanding.

Our team supports you from the comfort of your own home via calls, email, and Zoom sessions, so you don’t need to worry about where you are based or travelling to appointments.

Please note our support is provided from knowledge, signposting and lived experience. We do not offer any kind of clinical service or clinical help.

Yes, we can.

Our team is trained in areas of Autism, Disability Benefits Advice (DLA/PIP) and Education Health Care Plans (EHCP), to name but a few. We also have access to additional resources to help check into more complex matters.

We help families frequently with form completion in various areas, but please keep in mind that we cannot complete the form for you, only give you guidance on the questions so you can answer them correctly and accurately for your child.

We know that for some people, forms can be very challenging, or some people just prefer to sense-check answers and direction before they enter them. It can be hard at times to remember all the areas that impact the lives of you and the child you support.

There is no charge to access our Support team, you simply need to be a registered member with Spectrum.

For any questions or queries, the Spectrum team are easy to reach in a whole host of ways. A good overview of this is provided on our contact page. The most used ways of reaching us are as follows:

• Via email to hello@spectrum.org.uk (General)
• Via email to events@spectrum.org.uk (Events)
• Via WhatsApp to 07822 013562
• Via the Live Chat message service on our website
• Via our official Facebook Page messaging service
• Via telephone call to 01223 955404 (Mon-Fri 10 am to 4 pm excluding bank holidays)
• Via the contact form on our site

The team will review your request and direct you to the relevant team within Spectrum. Please note that due to security reasons and processes a number of areas can only be dealt with via email. We do not send deal with any event bookings, payments or personal information over messaging platforms.

If you have forgotten your Spectrum membership number or lost your welcome email, the issue can be easily remedied.

Simply head to our Lost Membership page and complete the very simple form covering your basic information. This will drop through to the team, and they will be in touch to confirm once they have checked your details.

Your Spectrum membership number starts with the letters SC and is followed by up to 6 numbers.

Your Spectrum membership number stays with you through time; you only need to complete this once with us. It is important, though, to keep this information up to date with us, especially your contact information (e.g., email, phone, and address), as these are also used for security questions and other purposes.

Should you ever need to update the information you registered with us, simply head to our Membership Update page and make the changes you need.

Examples of information changes to make us aware of are as follows:

• Change of name, home address, email address or contact numbers for you
• Update in your child’s diagnosis, or any further additional needs that you have been made aware of
• Additional children that need adding into your family details

We require any of your children attending our events to be registered with us in line with our insurance and processes.

Our range of events, days out, sessions for the children and families that we support focus around social gains, sport, technology, the Arts, entertainment, creativity and interaction, to name but a few. Examples of some of the events we have done and are delivering are the Harry Potter Studios, Legoland, Disneyland Paris, Warwick Castle, ZSL, Supper with Santa, Pantomimes, Theatre and Tower of London to name but a few.

Spectrum recognises the challenges faced by families of children with additional needs, so we remove as many hurdles for those families that we support, to make them as simple to attend and as enjoyable as possible. Coach travel is often also provided with many of our away days, or for most events you can just meet us at the venue.

Yes, we do! Spectrum is very much family-focused, and we currently offer climbing at Clip’ n Climb Cambridge and Climb Quest Milton Keynes, alongside our own dedicated Spectrum Play sessions.

These are great places to not only have a lot of fun but also to make new friends, meet like-minded families, catch up with the Spectrum team and keep up to date on all we have coming up. All of our sessions and events are specifically for families registered with us.

All our upcoming events and sessions can be found at https://spectrum.org.uk/events, which is constantly updated.

All of our events and sessions are family-based; we do not offer any options for your child to just be left with us.

All of our events and sessions can be seen on our events page with an indication of their remaining availability. Due to the high demand for the events that we provide, we do rotate place requests for them as much as possible to ensure families get an opportunity to take advantage of them for the first time, as well as re-attend. Additionally, our events are announced on our Private Facebook Group as well as by email notification through our subscription lists.

We provide events centred around children, for families, for adults only and for fundraising. The costs for our events range from free through to pay for.

If you have seen a notification for an event of ours that you are interested in, the event can be found on our dedicated events page.

Simply locate the event of interest to you on our events page, click on it, and it will take you through to the full information about that event. This includes an overview on the day, timings, travel and any associated costs.

Once you have read all the notes on the event, simply head to place request form at the bottom of the page and submit your request to us. If you have submitted your request correctly to us, you should see the page refresh and a success message display where the form was. You should also receive a copy of all the information that you entered in your email inbox a few seconds later for your records.

We will then follow up with you in due course to confirm whether places have been allocated to you for the event or whether you are presently on the waiting list for it. Please note that all place requests must be submitted via the website.

For simplicity of booking and to try and assist as much as we can with costs, Spectrum Play is based on a Family Ticket.

For obvious reasons, including costs, insurance and health and safety limits, a family ticket just cannot be endless. By default, a family ticket covers up to 2 adults and up to 3x children. The children must be immediate family members only (yours and your partner’s and all registered with us).

Our systems now flag when a place request exceeds 2x adults and the number of children you have registered with us. We love seeing friends and extended family attend events with you, but there are small additional charges for this, to help us continue to make the events viable. Our invoice to you for your request will reflect this process and your registration details with us.

As always, please keep your child/contact information with us up to date at https://spectrum.org.uk/membership-update. Please register any siblings attending events with us.

In short, like every other organisation, Spectrum has to work to a process and deadlines for our event as we are subject to the same costs as everyone else. Each event clearly lists its process, deadlines and cancellation. All events work to the same policy, pretty much with different deadline dates.

• All events have clearly stated deadline dates; all payments are due at this point and beyond without exception.
• Some events have initial non-refundable deposits and then deadline dates for the balance in the future.
• All payments are non-refundable after the deadline date.
• If you cancel your places after the deadline date the payment remains due in full, the same is Spectrum has to take steps to cancel your places due to no payment or response.
• Not completing payments on time will impact your membership, resulting in restricted access to future events, preventing access to the Max Card, and immediately pausing any future events you are booked onto, until the matter is resolved.

Example Event Policy (shown on each event page)

We totally understand that plans and health can change, emergencies can happen, and life can just get in the way when you least expect it to, especially as parents, carers and guardians of children with additional needs ourselves.

We also understand that such things can also be hard to talk about at times, but we always try to help the families we support as much as we can. All we ask is that you stay in touch and just be honest with us; it is so much easier to help you this way.

Please do bear in mind that non-payment of invoices and not attending events for which you have been given places will have an adverse impact on you across the board, and access to our services will be restricted.

All invoices are due in full once the due date has passed, with no exceptions. Excluding non-refundable deposits, we can only assist with refunds or cancellations at no cost before the deadline date.

As a small children’s charity, we have to be incredibly careful with funds. Any items not being paid for, has a significant impact on us and will simply reduce or prevent future events from happening, as we are just not able to absorb losses of that nature. It also prevents other families from attending, which they could have done if they had had enough notice.

We keep any payments for all events and sessions open for as long as possible to help families, but we also have commitments and deadlines to the venues we work with, which we must adhere to or lose those opportunities. Even for events that are free to you, the venue still has costs, and staffing still has to be paid for!

Please remember that the following impact will occur if you don’t pay invoices or inform us of changes to bookings.

• You will see your places cancelled for the event; a cancellation notice will be sent to you, and access to ALL our services will be immediately restricted. The invoice value will remain due to us.
• Any bookings for events in the future you are on with us will be immediately suspended until the matter is resolved. New place requests will automatically be moved to the reserve list.
• Spectrum reserves the right to pass outstanding invoices for commercial/legal/court collection, and additional charges and interest can be applied.
• Additionally, Spectrum has a zero tolerance for any kind of behaviour/communication that is deemed to be rude/abusive/aggressive – our team are also parents of children with additional needs and volunteer their time.

Spectrum reserves the right to take any necessary steps to recover funds owed to us. As a small children’s charity, we simply cannot absorb them, and it will prevent further events and work from happening. This includes debt recovery channels, court and legal processes, including attachment of earnings or benefits if relevant and viable.

Spectrum is very much family and inclusion-focused; siblings and family members are most welcome at our events. We always prioritise member children over requests from friends and extended family, etc.

We can accommodate this for many events, away days, and Disney, but additional charges will apply when the event is on a Family Ticket basis, as this is for immediate family and covers up to a certain number of persons.

Once place requests are checked and processed, should we be able to confirm places for you, you will be notified in the first instance by text message. Please ensure that you have provided us with the correct number for you in your form.

We recommend saving the numbers 07822 013562 (WhatsApp) and our Text Alert number 07441 446910 to your phone for our notifications. We also send messages from a dedicated Spectrum-named service.

Your QR code (e-ticket) for the event (how you sign in with us on the day) is typically sent within 24-48 hours before the session as an average guideline. This also includes a final reminder of the notes and timings from the event page.

We do offer first-come, first-served booking for our larger fundraising events, such as the Spectrum Black Tie Balls and our dining experiences, but this wouldn’t be fair to do for our events and away days.

We work on a place-request basis for sessions and away days to ensure we can provide the best level of coverage across our membership base. We rotate places at these events to ensure families have the opportunity to attend for the first time as well as for repeat visits. With many of the families we support needing to work different days, hours and shifts to support their families, it just wouldn’t be fair to operate on a first-come, first-served basis.

For most of our away days, our focus is very much on travelling by coach with us in the first instance, if one is supplied. We typically only provide “Meet Us There” options after this point, as the focus of the event is to provide a supportive environment and not just ticket access to a venue, as families are able to achieve this themselves. We do appreciate, though, that some families prefer to travel this way due to geography, routines, family and medical reasons, to name but a few, and we will help as much as we can here, but as a secondary point.

We do not ask families to stay in one large group after they have been checked in at a venue. You are free to access the venue however you like and at your own pace, so simply providing tickets is not our core focus and has considerably less value to the objective.

For nearly all of our away days, we provide a subsidised coach, or even two at times, from close to our Spectrum HQ in Cambs (Bottisham and Ely). We rotate coach and event places to ensure the best coverage across the board.

We do not provide transportation to our monthly sessions at Clip’ n Climb Cambridge, Spectrum Play, Climb Quest Milton Keynes, the Harry Potter Studios or KD Theatre events.

No, you don’t!

Everyone needs to check in together when we arrive at the venue, whether you have travelled with us via coach or met us at a venue after making your own way there. This is to keep things as simple as possible for both us and the venue as we typically operate off a group ticket/access, after that, you are free to enjoy your day as you wish to 🙂

Each year, Spectrum provides a large number of events in a variety of ways. Our events take into consideration such areas as Heritage, Conservation, Entertainment, Sport, Technology and the Arts, to name but a few.

We regularly work with many of the most popular and leading event venues in the country. Each year, we rotate our events to provide a good variety and different locations. Many of the most popular attractions, such as Legoland and the Harry Potter Studios, are frequently visited. We will also frequently return to Disneyland Paris.

We respond to everyone who has asked for places via text message or email once the event has been checked and processed. We typically allow a little time for requests to come in before doing this. This varies by event and also by how far ahead in the future the event is.

We advise all persons as to whether they have a confirmed place or are on the waiting list for the event.

We always rotate attendance at our events to ensure good coverage amongst those we support and a mix of returning and new families. Due to the nature of the children we are supporting, places can become available for events, and we do regularly get in touch with waiting lists to re-allocate places. This is typically via our text alert platform, WhatsApp or email.

We recommend saving the numbers 07822 013562 (WhatsApp) and our Text Alert number 07441 446910 to your phone for our notifications, along with whitelisting the email address events@spectrum.org.uk. We also send messages from a dedicated SPECTRUM named service (no-reply format).

If you have a confirmed space at one of our paid-for events, you will have received an invoice from us by email. This invoice confirms your requested numbers at the event as well as how to make your payment for it to us, via bank transfer, and the deadline for payment.

Once you have completed your bank transfer to us, simply allow around 24-48 working hours for us to process and allocate it.

If you have paid by bank transfer, you can click on the “Review and Pay” button in your invoice, and it will update to a “PAID” status, stamped across it. You then have a receipt for your records.

If you have paid by Card/ApplePay/GooglePay, then you will receive a receipt as soon as the transaction completes.

We have three subscription lists in place that our members can gain email notifications from. These cover the following areas:

Spectrum Members
We recommend this subscription for all members. It covers important and general notices, Max Card information, your membership details with us, your welcome email, including your membership number, and our annual Black Tie Ball, among other examples.

Spectrum HQ Events
This is for our events and regular sessions in reasonably close proximity to Spectrum HQ. This covers such areas as our own Spectrum Play sessions, Clip n Climb Cambridge, Climb Quest Milton Keynes, as well as the likes of Supper with Santa, Safari Stu, and Pantomimes.

Spectrum Away Days
This includes our visits to Disneyland Paris and around the UK, such as Legoland Windsor, the National Space Centre, the Harry Potter Studio Tour, Warwick Castle, the London Eye, and more. Coach travel is included in the majority of these events from our HQ area, but there is also often the option of meeting us at the venue should you wish to.

You can unsubscribe directly from our email alerts at any time.

Spectrum has implemented private, secure Minecraft servers from its Digital Reach project, delivered during COVID, specifically for the children we support. We continue to expand the different options available to children through Minecraft.

To access our Minecraft servers you simply need to complete our Minecraft form and register with us. You will need to know your child’s Gamertag (case sensitive) that they use to play Minecraft at home, as we whitelist this on our servers to provide them with secure access. All the information that is needed to get them up and running is provided on our Minecraft welcome email once your request has been processed.

Spectrum is an authorised leading UK distributor for Max Card.

The Max Card is designed to make days out more financially accessible for foster families and families of children with additional needs. The discount available varies between venues, with thousands of venues taking part in the scheme across the UK.

To qualify for a Max Card for your child, you simply need to have an active Spectrum Membership Number; no other additional criteria are required by us. Just head to our Max Card form to register your request with us. Please note your Spectrum membership number is required as part of the sign-up process. The cost of the Max Card is currently £9 and provides you with coverage for approximately 2 years.

Our Max Card page covers all the commonly asked questions and information needed about it.

Each child with additional requires their own card, and you can purchase multiple cards with us at the same time. Each child that you request a card for, needs to be included on your membership registration and their details and conditions known to us, to ensure they meet the qualifying criteria. The Max Card is only for children with additional needs.

If you have lost your Max Card, it has been stolen, or it has expired, you will need to request a new one via our Max Card page and pay the current pricing rate.

A Max Card presently costs £9 and has a validity period of approximately 2 years. It is not possible to provide free replacement cards or new ones to replace expired ones, as they are all uniquely coded.

If your Max Card has been lost/stolen, we can block the card number so that it can no longer be used. For any such requests as this, you can reach the team directly at maxcard@spectrum.org.uk

All of our Max Cards are normally dispatched within 3-5 working days of your payment being received by us. All Max Cards are dispatched via First Class postage in Spectrum-headed stationery for easy identification in your post.

You will receive a dispatch email from us when your card is with the Royal Mail. This email will also include a tracking link if you have opted to upgrade to the Recorded Delivery or Special Delivery option.

Your Max Card will arrive with you with your child’s name already written on it, as per the spelling you have provided for them on your order.

The card belongs to the child as opposed to the parent/guardian/carer and both the Max Card and the child that it is for must both be present at any venue where you are using the card, without exception. The venue has the right to refuse access or not apply a discount if this is not the case.

Yes we are! We strive to be as visually engaging as possible with the work we do and actively utilise social media.

You can find us on Facebook, Instagram, “X” and YouTube so please give us a follow! We also have a dedicated Private Spectrum Members Only Group on Facebook.

Always feel free to use the hashtag #wearespectrum and tag us in any photos you take at our events.

We love to work with those who wish to fundraise for us and help us provide more and more events for those we support.

Fundraising for Spectrum is easy to do, and we can provide you with help at every step and also promote your efforts on social media. Spectrum is registered with JustGiving,Virgin Money Giving, CAF and for Gift Aid, for easy online fundraising, and we can also readily supply sponsorship forms for your event.

We have seen such things as marathons, half-marathons, 24hr cycle rides, white-collar boxing and climbing challenges all done by fantastic people to support our work.

At times, Spectrum also participates in events such as the London Marathon and Cambridge Half-Marathon.

We have a team of volunteers across Spectrum covering areas from our events to back-office activities, which all enable Spectrum to do the work that it does.

All of our volunteers have Enhanced DBS checks and also complete training in Safeguarding, Equality and Diversity, Prevent Duty, Food Hygiene and GDPR, to name but a few. We also implement First Aid training via St John Ambulance.

Any available volunteering vacancies are listed on our volunteering page and may change throughout the year.

Yes, we do.

We work with dozens of educational settings and their SENCOs to support as many families as possible. We provide information on the work that we do and have also attended numerous assemblies, pupil mentoring groups, culture capital pupil sessions and SEND parent mornings.

We continue to work with Heads, Teachers, SENCOs, parents and pupils within education settings, in different ways.

Schools can register their interest in more information from us here or simply email us.

No, Spectrum has a strict policy around data sharing and all information is kept in house. We encourage all our members to also recognise confidentiality to ensure we present an environment suitable of supporting our members. All of our forms and data collection is in line with GDPR regulations and clearly marked.

We may need to disclose information if required to do so by law or in response to a court order. Additionally this can also be in exceptional circumstances, where we think someone is at serious risk of being harmed, we may contact the police or a local authority safeguarding team.