Commissioned Short Breaks

Tameside Council provides a range of innovative short breaks for children 0-18 years old who have complex special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).

These short breaks are for those children with disabilities, who are not able to access universal activities and are at risk of social exclusion.
These breaks can be accessed by contacting the providers directly and are not subject to a formal assessment of need. They are community based short breaks, the majority are managed and led by parent volunteers or commissioned by Tameside to deliver short breaks for children with SEND needs.

• To provide children and young people with enjoyable experiences with their peers, to improve their social outlet and reduce social isolation.
• To provide personal care support for children with profound and multiple learning disabilities (PMLD)
• To support families to maintain positive family functioning
• To provide overnight respite where there is a long-term impact of familial sleep deprivation.

As part of the overall support for children with additional needs, the provision of short breaks may form part of the support plan.

Some short breaks form part of a continuum of different services, which support disabled children, young people and their families.

An assessment of need can be requested for children and young people where there are complex and severe learning needs and disabilities that impact on the child’s daily lived experiences. Where specialist 1-1 provision and support to enable them attend positive activities and where they may need a higher level of personal care support.
Where an assessment identifies that additional support is required a commissioned short break support plan will be agreed. The types of support will be agreed based on assessed need and could include:
• Stay and Play sessions for 0-5 years with emerging special educational needs
• Planned sessions of group activities in the school /college holidays for ages 5-18 years old with one of our commissioned providers.
• Targeted outreach support to provide support to access community provision.
• Direct Payment to support children to access activities in the community or to provide care support at home
• Agency support to aid with personal care in the home or to provide assistance to access the community.