Parent carers to protest over shortage of short breaks

Parent carers are calling for more short breaks and respite care for children with special educational needs.

A campaign group called SEND Us A Break plans to protest outside Hove Town Hall on Thursday (13 February) before Brighton and Hove City Council’s cabinet discusses the budget.

In November, SEND Us A Break campaigners presented a petition to the cabinet highlighting “insufficient childcare services and short breaks” for parents and carers.

At the time, Councillor Mitchie Alexander said that there were 678 sessions in the summer, of which 418 were specialist sessions for children and young people with complex needs.

But the petitioners said that children with complex needs who required one-to-one or two-to-one support were offered only four days across the whole summer holiday – and just one day from 10.30am to 4pm during the October half-term break.

In cabinet papers, SEND Us A Break said that the council was required to provide childcare, short breaks and respite for parent carers of children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) – adding that the “provision is wholly inadequate and has been for years”.

A deputation, supported by 12 parent carers, said: “How does your budget provide capacity for the overdue workforce development plan supporting the entire SEND sector including breakfast and after-school clubs, short breaks, direct payments, personal assistants and residential respite?

“In making a speech to cabinet, we wish to raise your awareness of the lack of equality for childcare in the city for SEND children – and inform you of the impact on families with SEND children when there is insufficient childcare, short breaks and respite care.”

Their protest follows a challenge to the council from the Parent Carers’ Council (PaCC) learning disability and social care lead Fiona England about the lack of equality when it comes to holiday services for children and young people with SEND.

At a meeting of the council’s People Overview and Scrutiny Committee on Friday (7 February), she said that the £130,000 short breaks activity programme was not included in the council’s budget papers.

PaCC asked for scrutiny of the programme because “statutory” demand exceeded the budget. The group was also concerned that there was no designated social care officer supporting families of children with SEND.

A respite centre in Drove Road was currently unavailable because it was being used to provide housing for a young adult waiting for a permanent home.

Ms England said: “Families with statutory eligible children and young people are not getting holiday provision and this is far from equitable to non-SEND provision. That’s one issue.

“The other issue is again the plea for a strategic overview because we’ve got a pressure with the short breaks issue. Now of course we have another pressure with the crisis at Drove Road.”

The deputy leader of the council Jacob Taylor said that parent carer messages were “coming through loud and clear”.

Children’s services were an area of “budget pressure” for the council because of rising costs – and next year’s budget for the families, children and wellbeing division was increasing from £72.4 million to £77.5 million.

Councillor Taylor said that he recognised the pressure on short breaks and the council was looking at how direct payments could be used in different ways to help parents and carers.

He said: “It’s obviously a vitally important area. We need to make sure that we’re meeting our statutory duties.

“If we need to think about and consider more funding in following years, or indeed in-year, then the council will do that.”

The cabinet is due to meet at 2pm on Thursday (13 February) at Hove Town Hall. The meeting is scheduled to be webcast on the council’s website.

To read a thread of live Bluesky posts from the People Overview and Scrutiny Committee meeting on skywriter.blue, click here.