Short Breaks in Surrey for children with SEND and their families - Your views on proposed changes

Overview

Short breaks are a lifeline for many families of children with disabilities.

Short breaks are important because they:

• provide opportunities for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities to have fun, see their friends and try new activities;
• help families to achieve better outcomes; and
• act as a preventative service helping to avoid family breakdown and the need for more specialist social care in the future.
   

Why are we asking for your views now?

Every few years, Surrey County Council is legally required to re-issue contracts to providers of short breaks services and we have listened to families and worked with them and our partners during 2016 to design the short breaks services we will buy from our providers in the future.

We would like your views on the new proposed offer before the Surrey County Council’s Cabinet makes its final decision on the 18 July 2017.

In particular we would like your views:

• about these proposals and changes;
• how you may be affected by them; and
• if there is anything else we need to do to support families better.

The information that you give us will be used to inform the final decision by the Council’s Cabinet and to help us plan for a smooth transition when the proposed service is put in place on 1 December 2017.

Families have helped us shape each stage of the process, from assessing needs, reviewing the current offer and identifying the outcomes families want to achieve from short breaks, to designing the proposed services and evaluating funding bids from potential providers to deliver these services.

We want to thank all the families who have given us their time and feedback throughout this process.

What services are Surrey County Council proposing to fund as a result of the tender?