Lewisham Social Services – Children with Complex Needs Service

FOI Short Breaks Services Statement – 327255

Under the Freedom of Information Act, I request the following information in relation to your Short Breaks Services Statement:

1) Where can families find your Short breaks Statement? What evidence do you have that the statement is accessible to families (i.e. unique visitors/ postal reach etc.)?

Lewisham's Short Breaks Service Statement was co produced with six parent/carer members of the Lewisham Parent and carer Forum and has been published on the council's website, click link: http://www.lewisham.gov.uk/myservices/socialcare/children/children-with-disabilities/short-breaks/Pages/default.aspx.Lewisham Council website is accessible toall and has accessibility features to ensure people with disabilitiescan access it.

The Short Breaks Service has continued to work with organisations such as Carers Lewisham,Contact a Family and Lewisham's Parent andCarersForumto ensure the Short Break Services are promoted in the local area and are involved in shaping our servicesnow and inthe future. We also liaise with a number of professionals providing information in relation to the Short Break Service provisions on an ongoing basis.

What is Lewisham Parent and Carer's Forum?

It is somewhereparentscan;

  • Talk about things that matter to them with other parents and carers
  • Make sure their collective voices are heard
  • Gain valuable information about what is happening locally and nationally
  • Help plan services
  • Influence local services such as health, education and social care
  • Attend training/workshops to empower them as parents and carers about topics that are important to them
  • Be involved in events targeted at parents with children with a disability.

Who Is it For?

The Parent Forum is for all mums, dads and carers in the London Borough of Lewisham who have children and young people with disabilities and additional needs from0- to 25 years of age. Parents are able to attend as;

  • A parent or carer
  • A representative from your child’s school
  • A representative of local or borough-wide parent groups

2) How often do you review the Short breaks statement? When was the last time you revised it and for what reason?

We regularreview anddevelop the Short Breaks service. In 2013/14 we undertookconsultation with:

•Parents/ carers (children and young people where also invited);

•Commissioned providers staff;

•Lewisham’s Parents/ Carers Forum;

The consultation focused on gaining people’s views and experiences on whatworks well within the service and how we can improve the service. Peoplewere also consulted on the Short Breaks vision which included:

•To provide families with increased choice, independence and control over the activities and services they choose that will meet their short breaks needs through direct payment.

•To provide a local offer to enable parents/carers with disabled children and young people to have more information on what services and activities are available in their area through effective signposting.

•To provide specialist commissioned activity services to meet the needs of disabled children and young people with the highest levels of additional needs.

In general, the consultation was very well received by all stakeholders andthe feedback was constructive in helping the Local Authority in reviewing the service.This feedbackwas used to develop our short breaks service which in turn will enable us to review the Short Breaks statement.

We are planning onundertaking another Short Breaks review in 2015/16, to look at new creative ways in which the universal, targeted & specialist short breaks need to be delivered in the future.During this review we will be consulting with children & young people, parents/ carers, schools, professionals and commissioned providers.

3) How many children have been refused short breaks services because of eligibility criteria in the last twelve months? How many of these had an assessment?

Please see below the Targeted Short Break Referral's for 2014-2015 considering eligibility criteria with in the last twelve months.

Total referrals for the Local Offer 2014 - 2015 / Number
Referrals with High Rate DLA / 97
Referrals with Middle/Low Rate DLA / 67
Referrals DLA TBC / 7
Total / 171
Referral Eligibility 2014 - 2015 / Number
Eligible young people referred / 113
Non eligible young people referred / 57
Eligible young people's eligibility to be confirmed / 1
Total / 171

Specialist Short Breaks Services - Access to Service Criteria

Under Section 17 Children Act 1989, local authorities have a general duty to promote the welfare of children within their area who are in need. All children with a diagnosed disability are considered to be children in need.

In order to receive a social care assessment to establish whether Specialist Short Breaks are necessary, the child or young person must:

·be under 18 years of age,

·be living permanently within the London Borough of Lewisham,

·and have a diagnosed disability.

Under the Equality Act 2010, a person is disabled if they:

·have 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.

Following an assessment of the needs of the child or young person. The allocated social worker will make one of the following decisions:

·the child or young person does not require a service.

·the child or young person is entitled to receive a service which will be

delivered by universal services.

·the child or young person requires support through a care plan. This

could include an entitlement to a service delivered by the Short

Breaks Service.

4) How often do you consult families on the content of the short breaks statement? When did this last happen and how many families were involved?

We are currently consulting parents/ carers fromLewisham's Parent and CarerForum on the content of short breaks via the work on Lewisham's local offer. Once the local offer has been fully developed, all families will be able to comment on the short breaks content via a feedback tool that will be available on the local offer.

5) What evidence do you have that you deliver short breaks to children and young people as outlined in your statement?

Data as of July 2015

The breakdown of Targeted Short Breaks provisions being accessed are;

186 receive direct payments

12 receive the Saturday Club

8 receive Rockbourne

24 receive Domiciliary Care

18 are finalizing their care package.

A Targeted Short Breaks Service may include more than one service provision to meet a child’s or young person additional needs.

The breakdown of Specialist Short Breaks provisions being accessed are;

219 receive direct payments (Active cases) (229 April – July 2015)

26 receive Ravensbourne

43 receive House on The Hill (7 children on waiting list)

23 receive the Saturday Club

16 receive Rockbourne Holiday Scheme

36 receive Domiciliary Care

26 receive Drumbeat Holiday Scheme

35 receive Watergate holiday Scheme

There are 22 further provisions accessed at:

Rockbourne Evenings

DrumbeatAfterschool

Drumbeat Saturday Club

WatergateAfterschool Club

Children and young people may be assessed as needing more than one service provision.

6) How many children do you have records of that you consider to be currently eligible for short breaks?

Data as of July 2015

Targeted Short Breaks - Since the Targeted Short Breaks service was established in April 2013, the service had received 370 referrals with 245 families being eligible to receive a service.

Specialist Short Breaks - In April 2015, 328 children and young people had been

assessed as needing the Specialist Short Breaks service.