“Short breaks provide opportunities for disabled children and young people to spend time away
from their primary carers. These include day, evening, overnight or weekend activities and take
place in the child’s own home, the home of an approved carer, a residential or community setting.
Provision of short breaks should be based on an assessment of the whole family addressing both
their personal and social needs. Short breaks occur on a regular and planned basis and should be
part of an integrated programme of support which is regularly reviewed. No short break or single placement should
last more than 17 days continuous care and total provision over a year should not exceed 75 days.”
Short break services are additional services required to support disabled children and their
families; in other words, short breaks are services over and above the universal services expected
and available to all families. The issue of ‘additionality’ is important when looking at the use of
universal services.
Different types of short breaks
1. Residential Short Break Unit
A residential short break unit is a service provided in a residential setting that may include
overnight stays, day care or sessional visits. No short break stay should exceed 28 days
continuous care. A small number of residential settings also provide outreach services within the
child’s own home or community.
Residential units may provide:
a . overnight stays – include all overnight stays regardless of whether or not they are
longer than 24 hours.
b . day care and sessional services are visits or sessions that take place within the
residential unit, for example tea time visits, day care at weekends and school holidays.
c . outreach services, in this context are services provided by the residential unit whereby
staff employed by the unit go out to the child’s own home or take the child out into the
community.
Residential stays also take place in hospices and in special schools. It should not be assumed that
all these stays constitute a ‘short break’. In deciding whether or not this is a short break – the
purpose of the stay must be considered.
Definition of short Breaks
Definition of Short Break 2 October 2008
The majority of children using hospices are ‘disabled children’ with multiple impairments and
complex health needs rather than children with what would be considered as life limiting
conditions, such as cancer.
Some special schools have a residence or hostel facility where children attending that school may
stay for a few nights each week. This is defined by the school as a ’24 hour curriculum’ rather than
a short break – even if the effect for the family is the same.
2.Family based overnight services
Family based overnight short breaks are short breaks in the home of an approved carer or in the
child’s home that include one or more overnight stays. No stay should exceed 28 days continuous
care. An approved carer may be a contract carer or a short break/family link carer.
Overnight services may be provided by:
Contract carers are also known as fee paid, salaried, professional or link-plus carers. They are
approved foster carers who provide short breaks ‘on a full time’ basis and receive a fee or salary
throughout the year, even when they do not have a child in placement. In addition, they usually
receive an allowance when a child is in placement in the same way as other short break carers.
They are usually contracted to provide a specific number of nights per week or per year and tend
to be linked with an average of five children. The children are usually cared for in the home of the
carer, however in a small number of services the carers will look after the child in the child’s own
home.
Short break/family link carers are approved foster carers who receive an allowance each time a
child is in placement with them. They tend to be linked to one or two children each. The children
are usually cared for in the home of the carer, however in a small number of services the carers
will look after the child in the child’s own home.
Overnight sitting services are provided by ‘sitters’ or ‘sessional workers’ rather than approved
foster carers. Sitters are usually employed on a casual self-employed basis and are paid a salary
or hourly fee rather than an allowance. This service tends to take place in the child’s own home. In
some areas this service may be provided by health or agencies contracted by the PCT in order to
provide short breaks to children with multiple impairments / complex health needs /life limiting
conditions. Overnight care should include all overnight services, whether or not they are longer
than 24 hours.
Some childminder may have children overnight – see note under day care.
3.Family Based Day Care
Family based day care services are short breaks provided by an approved carer that do not involve
an overnight stay in the home of the carer or the child.
Definition of Short Break 3 October 2008
In most areas, day care will be provided by either contract carers or short break carers. Many
services will have approved carers who only provide day care (often due to their housing situation
or family commitments), however, in the majority of cases it is the same carers (and therefore the
same service) who provide overnight care who also provide day care. There are children who only
have day care and not overnight stays.
Both day care and overnight stays may be provided by childminders. In some instances these may
be short breaks, but for the majority of children using childminders this is not the case as it is a
universal service provided to enable parents of both disabled and non-disabled children to go to
work. It is not considered as good practice for childminders to be used instead of short break
carers in order to short cut the approval process required by the fostering regulations.
4.Sitting or sessional short break services
Sitting or sessional short breaks are services that provide care usually in the child’s home on any
day of the week for periods of time usually shorter than a full day.
The focus of the care may be in the child’s home or the sitter may support the child to access
activities in the community. The sitter is usually employed by a registered agency, which may be
the local authority, a health provider or a voluntary or independent sector organisation.
5.Befriending
Befriending is described as a one to one relationship that enables a child or young person to
access a range of community or leisure activities. A befriender is a volunteer.
6.Universal Services.
Universal services are those services provided to all children, young people and their families,
such as children’s centres, youth clubs, extended school activities and child care.
Universal services may be either part of inclusive mainstream services or may be specialist
services. Where universal services are provided in a dedicated way for disabled children and
young people this is usually because this is the only way of meeting the high support needs of that
group of children, for example a youth club provided for learning disabled children on the Autistic
Spectrum who also have challenging behaviour.
Definition of Short Break 4 October 2008
Universal services may act in a preventative way, by reducing the demand for specialist short
breaks and other services. For example, the provision of play schemes during the school holidays
is likely to reduce the demand for costly overnight short break services.
All universal services have a duty to respond to the Disability Discrimination Act by ensuring that
their services are accessible to disabled children and young people.
Short break services are additional services required to support disabled children and their
families; in other words, short breaks are services over and above the universal services expected
and available to all families. If parents work – non-disabled children may go to a childminder – this
is child care. If a disabled child goes to a childminder for the same reason it is child care not a
short break. In the same way all children should access youth clubs, extended schools activities,
community and leisure facilities – however, if additional support is required (child is supported
through a sessional worker service) – this may then constitute a short break.
7.Direct Payments
Any of the above service can be provided through a direct payment.
Direct payments are not a separate type of short break service, but rather a means of arranging a
short break service. Within children’s services a person with parental responsibility (usually a
parent) of a disabled child /young person or a young disabled person (aged 16 / 17 years) is given
money to purchase their own service instead of the local authority arranging that service on their
behalf. A direct payment is given INSTEAD of a service and the giving is based on an assessment
of need and eligibility criteria in the same way as direct services. A direct payment may be given to purchase equipment.