Social Care/Disabled Children
Short Breaks
Looking after a child with disability can be very rewarding and, at times, very demanding. A short break from these responsibilities gives parents and carers the opportunity for some time out and gives disabled children and young people the chance to have fun and make friends. ‘Short Breaks’ is a term that describes opportunities that support disabled children and young people to take part in fun activities and develop important skills, while giving their families a chance to have a rest from their caring responsibilities.
A short break can be anything from a couple of hours a week going swimming, attending a play scheme in the summer holidays, or sometimes spending the night with friends away from the family home. A short break is different from childcare, which enables parents and carers to work.
Short breaks are often described as being Universal, Targeted or Specialist depending on the circumstances of the children and families that use them.
- Universal: These are general services available to all families with children, regardless of disability. Examples include playgrounds, after-school clubs, or day care centres (with potential adaptations for accessibility).
- Targeted: These breaks offer more support for families with children who have additional needs but don’t require the most complex care. They might involve in-home respite care, specialised weekend clubs, or short getaways with trained staff.
- Specialist: These are short breaks designed for children with the most complex needs. They often involve overnight stays in residential care with highly trained professionals and cater to specific needs like sensory processing or behavioural challenges.
All local authorities are required to publish a Short Breaks Statement. This is a document that is intended to help carers and those they help care for, as well as social workers and carer support staff, to be better informed about the assistance available to help carers and their families to achieve a break from caring. Please click on the link below for a copy of the current short breaks statement in Birmingham.
During 2023 we received feedback and challenge from some of our parents relating to the way we were assessing and delivering support to our disabled children, young people and their families.
We do not want to be in a position where we are unknowingly not meeting the needs of our most vulnerable children and young people. We therefore sought independent legal advice relating to our 2023 Short Break Service Statement and our Children with Disabilities Policy and also asked the Council for Disabled Children to conduct a review of our short breaks review process.
We have accepted the concerns raised by our parents and the recommendations made by our independent legal advisors and by the Council for Disabled Children and have produced an Interim Short Breaks Service Statement and a new Children with Disabilities Policy, which we believe sets out in clearer detail the services that are available for disabled children and their families across Birmingham and how to access them.
All of our proposed policies are now on a single page on the Birmingham Children’s Trust’s website. This has been done as previously parents had complained that accessing policies was confusing and incoherent.
Children with Disabilities Policy
The new draft Children with Disabilities Policy ‘How we assess the needs of, and deliver support to, disabled children and their families living in Birmingham (including eligibility criteria), sets out in clearer detail, the legal basis by which we can assess for and deliver support to disabled children and their families.
It details the assessment process that is in place the tools we use to work out the needs that disabled children and their families might have and the amount of support they will need to ensure these needs are met. This is worked out through our new resource allocation system, which we believe offers greater transparency in evidencing how we have assessed need.
We have changed the review process so that no package of support can be changed without a re-assessment of need having been completed.
In developing the policy proposals in relation to short breaks
- We have considered previous policies which were under challenge as unlawful and have withdrawn them.
- We have moved completely away from relying on Right Help Right Time to set eligibility criteria for services. Although this guidance is mentioned in the policy it is specifically stated that this does not provide eligibility criteria for disabled children.
- The new policy sets out to explain in clear language the statutory basis for entitlement to principal social care services for disabled children and sets out the tests for these.
- It provides for a needs assessment before eligibility criteria are applied.
- The new eligibility criteria are designed to ensure that both the children and parents needs for short breaks are considered in line with the statute and regulations.
- This is achieved through the application of a resource allocation matrix and a published scoring table.
- We have published our community resource panel process as an appendix so that this is transparent and ensures that full reasons are provided for decisions.
Consultation on the Children with Disabilities Policy
During June and July of 2024, we asked you for your opinions on this policy, offering an online questionnaire and face-to-face sessions.
In particular we wanted your feedback on:
- The clarity of its approach to the legal framework
- The approach to eligibility criteria and the application of the resource allocation matrix
Interim Short Breaks Statement
The Interim Short Breaks Service Statement will remain in place whilst we co-produce with parents and commission a new short breaks local offer, which we are already working on and will be in place from March 2025.
The Interim Short Breaks Service Statement is important as the 2023 statement did not set out with clarity the eligibility for short breaks and referenced eligibility within our Local Safeguarding Partnership ‘Right Help, Right Time’ guidance, leading to a misunderstanding that disabled children and their families would only be able to access support if there was a child protection concern, which of course is not the case.
What are the proposed changes in the interim short breaks statement?
- We have amended the “Background” section so that more accurately reflects the language of the Short Breaks Regulations.
- We have deleted the section in the Short Breaks Statement entitled Right Help Right Time.
- We have updated the information about family’s needs as this section was out of date and was based on 2011 census figures.
- The ‘eligibility criteria’ section has been amended so that there is now a short statement that eligibility criteria will be applied, and a link provided to the new proposed assessment policy and appendices.
- The Direct Payments section has been updated to reflect that there is now a pre-paid card option when previously this was expressed as a service which was being under review and considered. There is also a new link to a full Direct Payments Policy which has now been published on the Trust Website.
- Reference in the previous Short Breaks Statement to a ‘one minute guide’ to social care has been deleted as this guidance was not seen as helpful and has been superseded by the proposed new policy and appendices.
Consultation on the Interim Short Breaks Statement
During June and July of 2024, we asked you for your opinions on the Interim Statement, offering an online questionnaire and face-to-face sessions. In particular, we wanted your feedback on:
- The legal update
- The change to the approach to Right Help Right Time
- Updated Census information
- Eligibility criteria – dealt with in more detail below
- Direct payments guidance.
This consultation has now closed and the results will be published on the Children’s Trust’s website in Autumn 2024.
Key documents
- For details of the full range of short breaks services commissioned by the Trust please view our Interim Short Breaks Statement.
- The Draft Children with Disabilities Policy
Short Breaks in Birmingham
Birmingham City Council and Birmingham Children’s Trust are reviewing the local short break services offer. This is because the current contractual arrangements will expire soon, so now is a good time to think about opportunities to spend the money that is available for short breaks differently to support better outcomes for children with disabilities and their families. For more information on short breaks services that are currently commissioned by the Trust on behalf of Birmingham City Council, please click on the link below.
Short Break Regulations
For more information on the legislation around short breaks, please click on the following link: