Source · Select Committees · Education Committee
Recommendation 59
59
Accepted
Conduct review of disabled children’s short breaks availability and fund local authority provision.
Conclusion
The Department should conduct a review of the availability of short breaks, respite care and holiday provision for disabled children to understand where the shortages are most acute. It should work with the Ministry of Housing, 91 Communities and Local Government to fund local authorities to be able to offer this provision to all families who are entitled to it. (Recommendation, Paragraph 145)
Government Response Summary
The government states local authorities already have a statutory duty to provide short breaks and fund them via core budgets. It also mentions a past innovation programme and that a report on lessons learned will be published in autumn 2025, but does not commit to a new review of availability or direct funding for local authorities.
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government
Accepted
In 2011, the Government introduced a statutory duty for all local authorities to provide a range of short breaks, to meet local needs. The duty also requires them to consult upon and publish a short breaks duty statement which sets out clearly what is available locally and how it can be accessed, including any eligibility criteria. Local authorities will primarily fund this statutory duty via core social care budgets, and it is for individual authorities to decide what level and type of short break support to offer, and to set their own eligibility criteria. Between April 2022 and March 2025, the Department ran The Short Breaks Innovation Programme. This enabled pilot local authorities to innovate their approach to short breaks to maximise impact, efficiencies and to address currently unmet needs. We will publish a report to disseminate lessons learned from the programme in autumn 2025.