Southwark Council’s Short Breaks Services Statement 2013
Southwark is ambitious for its children, young people and families. Our Children and Young People's Plan makes it a priority to increase the independence of children and young people with learning difficulties and/or disabilities, and their families.
This includes promoting the welfare and quality of life of children and young people with learning, physical and sensory disabilities or with complex and enduring health needs.
The plan also looks to enable them and their families to lead more independent lives and make better use of the opportunities available to them. This includes providing a range of short breaks services which will enrich the lives of disabled children and provide support to their parent-carers.
This short breaks services statement sets out what services are available, the eligibility criteria for these services, and how services are designed to meet the needs of local families with disabled children.
It affirms partners' commitment to provide the short breaks that families value and which are of a high quality, safe, reliable, accessible and responsive to the needs of children and their families.
The statement is kept under review, and updated at least annually.
The 'local offer' of short break services
All disabled child are entitled to access support from short breaks services. For more information, view the Definition of short breaks services and short breaks statement.
The level of support a child and their family is entitled to depends on the severity and nature of the child's disability. This support is categorised into three levels:
- Universal provision: This includes any activities available to all disabled children in mainstream and universal settings
- Targeted provision: This provision has criteria set by the provider or local authority, such as being targeted at children with a diagnosis of Autism; it can be accessed by self-referring or being referred or signposted by your child's school or local authority support services
- Specialist provision: This is accessed following an assessment of need by the children with disabilities and complex needs team; a case coordinator will develop a care package that meets the child's needs and incorporates the views of the child and family. Services provided at this level are agreed at a resource allocation meeting chaired by the service manager, will be subject to regular reviews and may be provided on a time-limited basis
We recognise that families may move between tiers of service at different stages in a child or young person's life or when family circumstances change. There is a broad range of provision available in each level – to view, please follow the links from the website, which is available through this link: Short breaks web page. We will work with families and providers to develop and define this list over the coming months.
How was this statement developed?
The participation and involvement of children, young people and families is central to service development and delivery, and services constantly strive to improve the experience of and outcomes achieved for children, young people and families. One of the mechanisms through which parents can support, review and challenge service delivery is Southwark's Parent Carer Council, a borough-wide forum. Another is the short breaks parents survey, a copy of which is available from the website.
Feedback confirms that children, young people and their families value their short breaks very highly. Families see these breaks as essential as they provide much-needed support as well as ensuring that children and young people have access to positive social and recreational activities away from home. Families also told us that, although they recognise the high quality of support on offer, we need to make it easier and simpler for them to access this support.
The range of short breaks on offer is also underpinned by an understanding of the needs of the borough. There are around 1,700 children with statements or care packages maintained by the borough, with autism the most common accounting for around a third of all statements. This is followed by speech and language delay, and learning difficulty as the next two most common categories of need. There is a gender imbalance, with some two-thirds of statements for boys.
Many children and young people with a special educational need or disability do not receive a statement – there are around 9,000 pupils in Southwark schools with school action or school action plus. Again there is a gender imbalance towards boys. The most common needs below statutory statement thresholds are moderate learning difficulty, speech, language and communication needs, and behaviour, emotional and social difficulties.
Complaints
We want to resolve concerns about the type or level of service on offer quickly and effectively. In the first instance, please contact the team manager for an informal discussion. If there are continuing concerns, the council has a formal complaints process, which can be initiated by contacting us on 020 7525 0042, via or through the online complaintsform.
Contact us
Children with Disabilities and Complex Needs Team
Children's Services
Southwark Council
Sunshine House
27 Peckham Road
London
SE5 8UH
Tel: 020 3049 8250