Short Breaks 2023

Short breaks give disabled children and young people enjoyable experiences away from their primary carers, thereby contributing to their personal and social development and ensuring they do not become socially isolated.

Short breaks for children and young people with disabilities benefit all – giving children and young people enjoyable experiences away from their primary carers whilst giving parents, carers and families a necessary and valuable break from their caring responsibilities which, in turn, enables them to maintain and improve the quality of care they provide.

Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council is responsible for ensuring children and young people who have disabilities and additional needs can access short breaks and a range of short breaks are available.
Short breaks can happen during:

day times
evenings
weekends
school holidays.

They can take place

in the child’s own home
in the home of an approved carer
in a residential or community setting.

We are carrying out this consultation to ensure that families have the opportunity to tell the Council how they feel about short breaks and what else they would like to see offered. We want to ensure that the money we have available is spent wisely and fairly, so please take a little time to fill in this questionnaire.

Your answers will be treated in confidence and you will get feedback about how the consultation has informed the decision making process and what has happened. This consultation will finish at the end of July. Feedback will be published on the local offer when it has been analysed after this consultation closes.

If possible, please encourage other family members to carry out this survey so that it reflects all of your wishes and feelings.

If you would like further information about the consultation, or have any concerns about this consultation, please contact
Louise Berry, Lead Commissioning Officer
louiseberry@barnsley.gov.uk

If you would like support to complete this survey you can:

attend the SEND Participation Drop in at Barnsley Library on 11th July 10am-2pm
contact SENDWorkingTogether@barnsley.gov.uk
call the SEND Participation Assistant, Laura on 07733314775

1. How old is the child/ young person with disabilities in your family? (please tick more than one box if appropriate)

0 – 4
5 – 8
9 – 12
13 – 18

2. Which area do you live in?

Central (Central, Dodworth, Kingstone, Stairfoot, Worsbrough)
Dearne (North and South)
North (Darton East, Darton West, Old Town, St Helen's)
North East (Cudworth, Monk Bretton, North East, Royston)
Penistone (East and West)
South (Darfield, Hoyland Milton, Rockingham, Wombwell)

3. Does your family access any short breaks/ respite services now?

Yes
No

4. If you do use services, can you please tell us which is the main short break service that you access? (if you do not access any short break services then please go to question 7)

5. What difference does this service make to you? (Tick all that apply)

6. Please tell us more about the quality of this service?

	Yes	No
Is it easy to access?	Is it easy to access? Yes	Is it easy to access? No
Is it reliable and regular?	Is it reliable and regular? Yes	Is it reliable and regular? No
Is it available when you need it?	Is it available when you need it? Yes	Is it available when you need it? No
Does it suit the needs of your family?	Does it suit the needs of your family? Yes	Does it suit the needs of your family? No
Is it age appropriate for the child/ young person?	Is it age appropriate for the child/ young person? Yes	Is it age appropriate for the child/ young person? No
Do you have confidence that the child/ young person will be well looked after by those who understand their needs?	Do you have confidence that the child/ young person will be well looked after by those who understand their needs? Yes	Do you have confidence that the child/ young person will be well looked after by those who understand their needs? No

Other please specify

7. If you answered NO to any of the questions above, please tell us a bit more about this.

8. How did you find out about short breaks? (How, where and from whom?)

9. Do you access any other respite or short breaks services not provided by the Council?

Yes
No

10. If you answered YES to question 9, could you tell us which services you access?

11. If you answered YES to question 9, please tell us and what you like about them.

12. What do you feel are the barriers to accessing short break / respite services to help you with your caring role and to help your child access appropriate services?

	Yes	No
We have problems with transportation.	We have problems with transportation. Yes	We have problems with transportation. No
We did not know where to find the information ourselves	We did not know where to find the information ourselves Yes	We did not know where to find the information ourselves No
The information available is not available in my language.	The information available is not available in my language. Yes	The information available is not available in my language. No
The information available is not in plain English	The information available is not in plain English Yes	The information available is not in plain English No
None of the professionals we have worked with have given us a range of information.	None of the professionals we have worked with have given us a range of information. Yes	None of the professionals we have worked with have given us a range of information. No
The application process to receive short break/ respite care is putting us off.	The application process to receive short break/ respite care is putting us off. Yes	The application process to receive short break/ respite care is putting us off. No
We are concerned it will not be available at the times we need it.	We are concerned it will not be available at the times we need it. Yes	We are concerned it will not be available at the times we need it. No

Other please specify

13. Which current short break services do you think should be provided or expanded in the future or what alternatives would you like to see provided in the future?

There is only a limited amount of money available to provide additional short break services, but if you have any other ideas of what should be available, please tell us. The Council is willing to consider new and innovative ideas if they make a difference to good physical, emotional and mental wellbeing.)

Please provide as much information as possible in the box below.

14. When, where and how do you think parents/ carers should find out about short break respite services?

	Yes	No
At the point of diagnosis	At the point of diagnosis Yes	At the point of diagnosis No
From another parent/ carer	From another parent/ carer Yes	From another parent/ carer No
At the library or local community centre	At the library or local community centre Yes	At the library or local community centre No
On the internet	On the internet Yes	On the internet No
At the doctors/hospital	At the doctors/hospital Yes	At the doctors/hospital No
From health professionals e.g health visitor	From health professionals e.g health visitor Yes	From health professionals e.g health visitor No
Available at family centres, nurseries, and schools	Available at family centres, nurseries, and schools Yes	Available at family centres, nurseries, and schools No

Any other suggestions

15. Does your child have an allocated worker from the Disabled Children’s Team?

Yes
No

16. Have you ever been a refused a short break or advised not to apply?

Yes
No

If yes, please specify

17. Please give us any additional information that you think is important when thinking about good short breaks/respite.

Thank you very much for the time you have taken to help ensure that services meet your needs.