Last updated: 26 March 2024

Next review: 26 March 2025

The service has been operating since 2011 with no updates or reviews to consider changes in needs and growth in number of children. 

Throughout 2022 we set up a multi-agency task and finish group made up of officers from SEND Short breaks, SEND Social care, SEND Education, Education Enrichment, Early Years, Early Help, NELFT, Waltham Forest Parent Forum, Integrated commissioning, Leyton Green Road Respite Centre Management and Children Social Care. 

We also published a Short Breaks survey to better understand what children and young people in Waltham Forest as well as their carers needs from the service. In 2023 we were taking those proposals through internal governance processes. 

What was reviewed

  • Administrative processes including application form and panel process,
  • Eligibility criteria and short breaks offer,
  • Commissioning and procurement processes,
  • Contract management.

Changes subject to public consultation

  • eligibility criteria for accessing the service.
  • revised age range 0 to 18 (previously 0 to 25 which had a significant impact on availability of provision as children’s providers are unable to cater for adults).  It is proposed that those over the age of 18 will continue to receive support following completion of the Social Care screening tool and meeting eligibility criteria for continuous social care packages. 
  • Allocation bands, clearer remits of the service

Eligibility criteria for accessing the service

The majority of children and young people access universal and mainstream services available through the local offer. The Short breaks service offers specialist support for parents and carers of children with disabilities by offering them respite opportunities through specialist short breaks providers or direct payments. 

Through the review process, we have not changed but propose clarifying the eligibility criteria as outlined below.

How it is now

You may be eligible if your child:

  • has a diagnosed disability or impairment that would define them as a disabled person under the Equality Act 2010 including a physical or sensory impairment, learning disability, autism spectrum disorder, challenging behaviour as a result of a disability, complex health needs and those with palliative, life-limiting or life -threatening conditions.
  • is a resident in Waltham Forest.
  • is aged 0 to 18 years old.

How we propose it changes

You may be eligible if your child:

  • Is Resident in Waltham Forest and has one of the below:
  • Has a diagnosed disability or a physical or mental impairment that has a ‘substantial’ and ‘long-term’ negative effect on their ability to do normal daily activities.
  • Is known to a specialist health pathway, i.e.: 
  • Child development clinic
  • Social and communication clinic
  • Visual Impairment 
  • Joint assessment clinic
  • Neuromotor clinic
  • Clinic for children with Down Syndrome
  • CAMHS
  • Child is not currently known to social care and is in receipt of an ongoing care package. 
  • And falls into one of the following categories A or B:

Category A: Children and Young people with ASD and or learning disabilities or behaviour which is challenging) or those children and young people with mental health and or behaviours that challenge and with other impairments such as learning disabilities

Category B: Children and young people with complex health needs including those with physical and/or learning disabilities and those with associated sensory impairments. Complex health needs include children and young with profound and multiple learning difficulties.

Is aged 0 to 18 years old (the package will stop at the end of the academic year when the young person turns 18).

Age range for the service 0 to 18

Short breaks service is available for children and young people between the ages of 0 to 18. This means that your short breaks package will stop at the end of the school term in which your child turns 18. 

For example, if a young person turns 18 on 19 October, the short breaks package will stop at the end of the autumn term when the schools break for Christmas in December.

For eligible young people, over the age of 18, the need for a social care package will be identified through a social care screening tool sent out to the family before the 18th birthday. Parents and carers are responsible for completing the screening tool and sending it back in time. The Screening form is then assessed by Assistant Social workers and where eligibility is met, a Resource Allocation Scheme (RAS) assessment will be completed for a young person with a proposed package presented to the Preparing for Adulthood panel.  

How it is now

Young people, when they turn 18, become subject to adult social care legislation which works different than children’s hence the need to clarify what happens when young person turns 18.

The service has been operating in this way since it was established however it has not been formally written into our Short breaks statement. We are not changing how this works. We are adding this part as a clarification to our process. 

How we propose it changes

The service has been operating in this way since it was established however until now this has not been formally written into our Short breaks statement. We are not changing how this works. We are adding this part as a clarification to our process.

Allocation bands

We analysed the types of requests short breaks service has been receiving over the last 2 years. Many of them are straightforward short break cases however some require a more complex package of support including broader social care and health input. 

The review task and finish group felt it was necessary to outline what would be the remit of the service in terms of allocation of support and what types of support would require multi-agency input, hence the introduction of 2 allocation groups identified through needs analysis and scoring system in place.

How it is now

Allocation bands are currently not in place

Proposed allocation bands

A self-assessment form and evidence led application system will allocate children and young people to one of the groups: 

Group 1: those who can access mainstream and universal services but are unable to do so and require financial support to help them overcome these barriers. 

Group 2: those who are complex and profound and require access to specialist commissioned services or equivalent in Direct Payments. 

Service allocations based on the scoring brackets 

For children ages 0 to 5 and scoring bands for children ages 5 to 18.

Group 1 (scores between 0 to 39) has a personal annual budget of up to £500 for activities accessible through local offers or up to £250 for equipment to support the child’s development. Funding will be received through a prepaid card subject to regular audits. 

Group 2 (scores between 40 to 64) is an allocation of specialist commissioned services of up to 156 hours a year or equivalent in direct payments to employ a Personal assistant. Within this group, families would also be able to access a specialist provision at Leyton Green Road through afterschool clubs, holiday clubs, and overnight stays (if this was a recommendation of the completed child and family assessment). Should you choose to receive this support through direct payments, the funds will be managed through a fund-holding account only. The pre-paid card option is not available for this allocation. 

For young people with complex health and medical needs, where the score is 64 or more we will be consulting specialist services (i.e. Occupational therapy, Speech and Language, Nursing team, Hospital discharging teams, Social Care, schools, and any other professional involved in providing care and support) to recommend individualised packages including short break activities, respite, home support and/or domiciliary care with broader social care package and health support forming part of the package.

We are also making a number of changes to our internal processes who are designed to provide you with easier and quicker access to services, clearer information on what is available as well as to give us the opportunity to regularly review existing packages to ensure they continue to meet the needs of your child and family. Those changes are not subject to consultation, but we want to take this opportunity to notify you of what we are changing.

  • We will publish a clear list of activities accepted as part of a short break as well as a new offer of purchasing sports / education equipment.
  • Referral form unified for both professionals and parents/carers: we redesigned the same application form to be used by professionals and families.
  • Decision making and panel process: we are moving away from the panel process to provide direct awards based on the information provided in the application form.
  • Score based application form and need led approach to support decisions. We designed score allocation guidelines based on the level of needs and support required for main areas of day to day functioning and impact it has on the family.
  • Allocation of packages for 12 months from the date of application. All packages will be allocated for 12 months from the date of the allocation. This will help us remove the confusion about pro-rata allocation as presently all allocations awarded for a financial year April to March.
  • Annual review process. All packages will be subject to annual review process to ensure the packages continue to meet the needs of the child and their family.

Please see below all documents referred to in this consultation: 

Please read our proposals and associated documents and complete the short questionnaire to express your views in relation to the proposed changes. The questionnaire is attached to this letter as well as available for download together with the rest of the consultation pack. 

The consultation will open on 26 February 2024 and will close on 14 April 2024. We will process all consultation responses and consider necessary adjustments so the new service can launch in June 2024.

How to reply to the survey:

By email: shortbreaks@walthamforest.gov.uk

Online: Short Breaks Consultation Online Survey

By post: Short breaks, SEND Service, Wood Street Health Centre, 6 Linford Road, Walthamstow, London E17 3LA

We plan to reevaluate the impact and efficiency of these changes after 6 months of the service operating with these changes. 

Your voice matters to us, so we are looking forward to hearing from you.