Torbay Short Breaks Statement

2024

Contents

What is a Short Breaks Statement?	1

What are Short Breaks?	2

Who is supported by Short Breaks?	2

How to access Short Breaks	2

How are Short Breaks paid for?	4

What about Transport to and from a Short Break?	4

What if I need more urgent support?	4

What happens when a child reaches 18 years old?	4

What else is available in the local community?	5

How can families get involved in shaping Short Break provision?	5

Review	5

What is a Short Breaks Statement?

The Government requires every local authority to produce a Short Breaks Statement so that disabled children, young people and their families know what services are available and how they can access them.

The purpose of this statement is to give information about Short Breaks, including what they are, how families can access them and how individuals can get involved in influencing what types of Short Breaks are provided to families in Torbay in the future.

This statement is for the parents and carers of children between the ages of 0-18 years, with a disability, and offers information on provision and services available which will promote the health, safety and wellbeing of children and young people.

The Equality Act 2010 defines disability as when a person:

‘- has a physical or mental impairment, and the impairment has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on their ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities.’

Children and young people are eligible for Short Breaks when they have a profound and complex physical or mental impairment, which has substantial and long-term effects on their ability to carry out their day-to-day activities.

Where an assessment identifies that specialist services are required, the local authority has a duty to provide services designed to:

Maximise life opportunities and participation of children and young people with disabilities.

Give children and young people with disabilities the opportunity to lead lives which ensure they reach their potential.

What are Short Breaks?

Short Breaks ensure that children and young people with a disability can fully participate in family and community life, enjoy themselves with friends and make decisions about their lives. They reduce stress within the family system through the provision of the right level of support at the right time and which need to be fair and equitable.

Short Breaks form part of provision for children in need and their families, and offer an opportunity to engage in positive activities, potentially away from their home. They can provide families with a ‘pause’ from their caring responsibilities and can give parents a chance to unwind or spend time with other children.

Examples of Short Breaks include:

Play schemes – provides fun social group and activities for children and young people either after school, or during the main school holidays

Saturday Clubs – provides a fun social group for children and young people at the weekend

Overnight breaks – where a child or young person stays away from their home for the night, with care being provided for someone other than their parents or usual carers.

Enabling Services – assistance to the child to access elements of their everyday life, that they would otherwise struggle to access independently.

Personal Budget - this is the amount of money, subject to needs assessment, that a local authority will pay towards social care need.

Direct Payment - financial payment aligned to the Personal Budget from a local authority instead of a direct care service.

Whilst access to Short Breaks is a priority for families with children with disabilities, they should be delivered as part of a much broader package of family support services.

Who is supported by Short Breaks?

Children and young people are eligible for Short Breaks when they have a physical or mental impairment that has a substantial and long-term effect on their ability to carry out day-today activities.

Any decision for Short Breaks to be included within a plan for a child will be subject to robust assessment which will identify the provision is a proportionate way of promoting the needs of the child and safeguarding their welfare.

How to access Short Breaks

For general advice and information about clubs, groups, societies and activities in Torbay, Families can look at Torbay SEND Local Offer - Family Hub (torbayfamilyhub.org.uk) or call the Family Hubs Contact us - Family Hub (torbayfamilyhub.org.uk). They will be able to provide information about what activities are available as locally as possible.

A request for Short Breaks can be made by the parent/carer, a family member or by someone already working with the family. Below outlines the statutory process and timeframes:

Level 4 – Children with Disabilities Team Support referral is sent to MASH Hub - Torbay Safeguarding Children Partnership
Referral is allocated within 24 hours to a social worker
The social worker will contact the family within 5 working days
Within 45 working days from allocation, the social worker will have carried out the single assessment. This includes the following: Visiting the child in their home Visiting the parent/carer in their home Visiting the child in their education setting Parent carer assessment offered Child in Need meeting arranged to gather the views of all involved with the child and family
If a need is identified, then the social worker will attend the funding panel to request support within 5 days of assessment being completed.
The social worker will inform the families on one of the below outcomes from funding panel on the same day.
Direct Payment (DP) DP Officer will contact the family within 10 days for form completion.	In-House Services Families will be offered the opportunity for enabling, play scheme or Saturday club. The social worker will then make a referral within 5 days of the funding panel decision.	Bespoke If a family require an alternative to DP or in-house services, then the social worker will work with the family to put in place the required package of support.
Short Breaks packages will be reviewed at a minimum every 12 months to ensure it still meets the needs of the family. There may be situations where this is reviewed on a more regular basis.

More detail on this process can be found in the following link Assessments (proceduresonline.com)

Children with Disabilities Team (CWD Team)

The CWD Team will usually only provide services to children and young people who have a physical or mental impairment which has a substantial long-term adverse effect at a severe or profound level. The factors which will be applied to determine whether severe or profound can be found here Children with Disability (CWD) Team - Family Hub (torbayfamilyhub.org.uk)

In Torbay, parents and carers of children and young people with disabilities who do not meet the CWD Team criteria can access Short Breaks in the following ways:

Looking at the Torbay SEND Local Offer - Family Hub (torbayfamilyhub.org.uk) for general information about inclusive or universally available specialist clubs, groups and organisations.

Calling into one of the Torbay Family Hubs Contact us - Family Hub (torbayfamilyhub.org.uk) for general advice and information about inclusive or universally available specialist clubs, groups and organisations.

Contacting the Early Help Service Early help - Torbay Safeguarding Children Partnership for information, advice and support to help decide what service/s may be on offer to the family as a whole or to request an Early Help assessment for further support.

How are Short Breaks paid for?

If Torbay Council identify that a child is eligible for Short Breaks, then these will be funded by Torbay Council. Once a Short Breaks request is approved at Access To Resources (ATR) Panel, there are two options available in terms of how these Short Breaks are paid for. Torbay Council can put the Short Break provision in place themselves and pay for it directly, or a family can be offered, or choose to have a Personal Budget.

Personal Budgets provide families with the money ‘in-lieu’ of Short Breaks, and they are therefore an alternative means of providing families with this support. This means that a family can buy their own Short Breaks, for example a family may employ their own home sitter directly, as opposed to this being put in place by Torbay Council.

Personal Budgets tend to work well when there is an identified professional of family member who knows the child and has a good relationship with them, and that person is in a good position to offer the Short Breaks support. It is also possible to have a mixture of Personal Budgets and other services funded by Torbay Council.

What about Transport to and from a Short Break?

Torbay Council understands that transport may be required by some families to enable their child to get to their Short Break. This will be considered within the Single Assessment and subsequent Short Break plan. Part of the discussion will be to establish individual children and young people’s level of mobility and their allocation of care allowances which could be used to support access to their Short Breaks. Should there be an identified need for transport, this will be agreed at ATR Panel, when the Short Break plan is endorsed.

Torbay Council will work with families, schools, providers and colleagues in Adult Services to ensure that where possible and where appropriate, young people are supported to become independent travellers.

What if I need more urgent support?

If you feel that there is immediate danger, please call 999.

The contact number for the Torbay Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH) is 01803 208100, which can be contacted during the day Monday – Friday between 9:00am – 5:00pm.

Torbay Council has an Emergency Duty Service (EDS) which is available for families should they experience a crisis out of normal office hours.

0300 456 4876

This is available from 5pm to 9am every day, including weekends and public holidays.

You will need to leave a voicemail on the services answer machine, and they will get back to you as soon as possible.

What happens when a child reaches 18 years old?

Torbay Council must support young people as they become young adults and take their place in the world.

Torbay CWD Team works closely with adult social care to ensure that the transition from Children’s to Adult Services is an exciting, optimistic and successful time for young people. This work and transition support begin when the child reaches 14 years old.

Torbay Council hold a Transition Panel which is a multi-agency panel, and members review young people aged 14+ who have a disability. This enables all agencies to work together to ensure the smooth transition between services.

Any young person who is open to the CWD Team, where it is felt support will be required as they move into adulthood will be referred to adult social care. This referral will only take place with the consent of the parent / carer and the young person. A Care Act Assessment will then take place.

More information around what support and advice is available for those aged over 18, please refer to the following websites.

Young Person - Family Hub (torbayfamilyhub.org.uk)

19 – 25 - Family Hub (torbayfamilyhub.org.uk)

A transitions overview - Torbay Council

Adult Social Care in Torbay - Torbay and South Devon NHS Foundation Trust

What else is available in the local community?

Universal services, for example after school clubs and youth clubs, are really important to ensuring children and young people with disabilities have fun and enjoy themselves with friends, just like others within their own community. Information on what is available can be found on the Home - Family Hub (torbayfamilyhub.org.uk)

Review

The owner of Torbay’s Short Breaks Statement is the Head of Regulated Services.

This Short Breaks Statement will be reviewed by May 2025. Torbay Council are currently undertaking a full review, in partnership with parents/carers, of the Short Breaks offer, including the choice and availability of provision, to ensure that Torbay can provide sufficient places to support the families of Torbay. Once this is complete the Short Breaks Statement will be updated in line with the changes and developments that have been made.

If you are a child, young person, parent or carer and you would like to be involved in the development of Short Breaks provision within Torbay then please email: shortbreaks@torbay.gov.uk

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