Short breaks statement
Statement published: February 2022
Introduction
There have been significant changes to the way we support children and young people with SEND and their families.
As we continue to improve services for children and families in the local area, and due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been changes to the short breaks offer.
This statement will act as interim until a full consultation with children and families can be carried out in the coming year.
The Children's Act (1989) requires all councils to provide services that are designed to give a break for carers of disabled children and young people. The Breaks for Carers of Disabled Children Regulations (2011) tells all councils that they must provide a range of services that are designed to meet the needs of disabled children and young people and assist carers in providing care to them.
In addition to this, the Children & Families Act (2014) places a duty on councils to produce a Short Breaks Statement that is published on the SEND Local Offer.
South Tyneside's SEND Local Offer describes what is available in the local area for children and young people aged 0 to 25 years with SEND and their families.
For more information about the SEND Local Offer:
Web: www.southtyneside.gov.uk/sendlocaloffer
Email: sendlocaloffer@southtyneside.gov.uk
Tel: 0191 424 7299 / 0191 424 6730
About this statement
This statement is for families and practitioners who support or care for a child / young person aged 0 to 18 years with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) living in South Tyneside.
It explains:
- what a short break is
- what kind of short breaks are available in the local area
- who can and how to access these including any eligibility criteria
Legal duties
South Tyneside Council has a legal duty to provide short breaks, and to publish this statement on their SEND Local Offer. The following legislation has been used in this statement:
- The Short Breaks for Carers of Disabled Children Regulations (2011)
- Care Act (2014)
- Children & Families Act (2014)
- Children & Young People's Act (2008)
- Chronically Sick and Disabled Peoples Act (1970)
- Children's Act (2004)
- Equality Act (2010)
What is a short break
Looking after a child who has complex special educational needs and disabilities can bring challenges and difficulties that other families do not have.
It may be harder for these children to participate in activities, develop their independence and make friends like other children do. Family members can become overwhelmed and tired from their caring duties.
A short break is an opportunity for the child or young person to spend time away from their primary carers and engaging in activities that are enjoyable. They promote social inclusion as well as developing personal and social skills. Short breaks also provide primary care givers with a valuable and necessary break from their caring responsibilities.
Short breaks can include day, evening, overnight, weekend or holiday activities and can take place in the child or young person's own home, in the home of an approved carer, in the community or a residential setting.
Short breaks range from supporting children with SEND to access a break within a universal setting or to providing specialist services.
Aims of our short breaks offer
Children and families get the support that they need at the right time. This includes early intervention and preventative support to prevent families reaching crisis.
- Provide high quality services that meets the needs of children and young people with SEND, ensuring that parents / carers can trust in our services and can have a restful break.
- Offer enjoyable experiences, where children and young people thrive and are supported in their personal, social and emotional development.
- Provide a broad offer so that families are able to choose from a range of services that are suitable to meet the identified needs of the child / young person and the family.
- Improve wellbeing by reducing the impact that caring has on the whole family and providing them with opportunities to spend quality time together without the additional caring responsibilities.
- Listen to families experiences and use this feedback to develop and improve our offer.
Types of short breaks available
Not all children and families will need the same level of short breaks or for the same amount of time. The type of short breaks that is accessed will be dependent on the needs of the child / young person and family circumstances.
Access to short breaks is either assessed or non-assessed. There are three types of short break services available in South Tyneside.
- Universal service: The majority of children and young people are able to access universal services with reasonable adjustments made where necessary.
- Targeted service: A smaller number of children and young people will require targeted services that can provide more support than universal services.
- Specialist service: The smallest number of children and young people will require access to specialist services.
Short break categories
| Description | Examples | How to access | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Universal | Available to all children and young people in the local area with or without SEND. |
| All universal activities are accessible. Services must make reasonable adjustments where necessary to support the child / young person. Contact the services directly to discuss your child's needs. |
| Targeted | Specific activities for children and young people with SEND, there may be some eligibility criteria. |
| Each service will have its own eligibility criteria. All targeted services are available on the SEND Local Offer. |
| Description | Examples | How to access | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Specialist | For children and young people that are unable to access universal or targeted services or require more support to access them than is regularly available. |
| Where a child or young person criteria for specialist short breaks, an assessment of need will be carried out to determine the right support at the right time. |
Eligibility & Assessment
Non-assessed short breaks
A non-assessed short break is a service that is available to provide children and young people with the same opportunities as their peers and where necessary with the support that they need to access them. These are universal and targeted services.
Universal services have no eligibility or assessment criteria to access them. All universal services have a duty under the Equality Act (2010) to make sure that they are accessible to disabled children and young people and to make reasonable adjustments where necessary.
Targeted services have eligibility criteria to access them, but no assessment of need is required. These services are more specific to SEND and may be exclusive to children and young people with SEND. Families are able to access the services directly.
Assessed short breaks
All children and young people who have a disability as defined by the Children's Act 1989 are children in need, and therefore eligible for a social care assessment known as a Single Assessment. Some families may not want or need Single Assessment but they still need some additional support which might include access to short breaks services. This is known as a Child and Family Support Assessment.
Child and Family Support Assessment
This assessment brings together a range of agencies so you can get the support you need as soon as possible. It is often used if you are asking for a specific type of support. It will look at the strengths and needs of your family, and the outcomes for your child / young person. The assessment will help to find the right service for your family.
Single Assessment
This is a complete assessment of your family's needs and is carried out by a qualified social worker. These may be carried out by the assessment team or the Children's Disability Team, dependent on your circumstances.
Short breaks are provided to those families where the children and young people have profound or complex disabilities that impact their daily living for a significant length of time. This includes:
- Cerebral Palsy, Muscular Dystrophy and other physical disabilities that significantly impact on the child's wellbeing.
- Learning disabilities.
- Autistic Spectrum Disorder, which has a significant impact on their communication needs, social and behavioural development.
- Multiple or severe disability.
- Global development delay.
- Severe sensory impairment.
- Complex physical disability and health needs.
In addition, some families will need support from the Council to access appropriate short breaks due to individual family circumstances. For example, a family that has multiple children with disabilities, parents / carers have their own medical needs/disabilities or additional support is required to safeguard a child.
After assessment
In South Tyneside, we do not carry out assessments for short breaks independently. We look at the whole family and develop a plan with you. This plan may include access to a specialist short break or refer you back to universal and targeted services.
Specialist short breaks
Within your family plan, if specialist short breaks is the right service for your family we will discuss with you what this includes. Each family's plan is unique to them, it may include one or more of the following:
Direct payments: This is money that is provided to you by the Council to cover the costs of a specific service, for example paying for a personal assistant to support you at universal / targeted activities or to help with your care needs at home.
Personal budget: Is an amount of budget that is provided to you by the Council, but you have control over how it is spent, to meet the needs of your child and family.
Overnight care: This is provided at Foxden, a fully equipped 4 bedroom bungalow that provides high quality care to children and young people.
Day services and community outreach: Services that provide specialist activities in the community or with a high level of support for those unable to access universal / targeted services with support.
A support package in the home or elsewhere: Managed and delivered / commissioned by the Council.
How we plan and review our short breaks services
As part of our planning process for the development of our short breaks offer, we must understand more about the number of children and young people with disabilities in the local area, and how many there are likely to be in the coming years. We also need to know what types of disabilities they have and what types of activities are popular.
To do this we collect information from a range of sources. We also listen to the views of children and young people with SEND and their parents / carers.
South Tyneside Council is committed to working in partnership with children and families.
Parents and carers have told us that there are not enough activities for children and young people. In a recent survey (June 2021) of parents / carers, the majority of them felt that their child with SEND was unable to access leisure activities independently. More than half felt that leisure services were not fully inclusive of their family's needs.
A universal leisure services consultation is taking place in Spring 2022 with families to understand how accessible and inclusive our current offer is.
In response, South Tyneside Council and South Tyneside CCG have developed a pilot short breaks grant offer which will provide a new targeted short break to families. This will be tested in spring / summer 2022.
We will also be listening to families who currently access specialist short breaks services to gather views on the current offer, how changes the impact of COVID-19 and how we can make our specialist short breaks offer more flexible.
We also welcome feedback on our short breaks at any time. You can do this via the SEND Local Offer website or by contacting us:
SEND Local Offer, South Shields Town Hall and Civic Offices, Westoe Road, South Shields, NE33 2RL
Email: sendlocaloffer@southtyneside.gov.uk
Telephone: 0191 424 7299 / 0191 424 6730
You can also provide feedback to South Tyneside Parent Carer Forum, an independent group of parents and carers of children and young people with additional needs and disabilities in South Tyneside. They work in partnership with key organisations to ensure the needs of the child are at the heart of all services. Find out more online:
Web: STPCF
Facebook: @stparentcarerforum
We aim to have collected the information that we need by Summer 2022, where we will then work in partnership with commissioners, healthcare providers, local voluntary sector partners, short breaks providers, children and young people and their parents / carers to develop our offer.