Short breaks services

What is a short break?

A short break gives children with disabilities the opportunity to take part in fun activities and experiences, spend time with friends, develop new skills and build their independence.

It also provides parents and carers with a valuable break from their caring responsibilities and can help families connect with other sources of support and local services.

Many children accessing short breaks may also have special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).

As children approach adulthood, planning will take place to help them prepare. Depending on their needs, support may continue through adult social care and other services. 

Further information about preparing for adulthood and adult services can be found through the SEND local offer and adult care transition pages.

Types of short breaks:

  • universal short breaks: available to all children with disabilities and can be accessed through self-referral
    • youth clubs
    • holiday activities
    • community groups
    • children’s centres 
    • scouts
    • brownies
    • leisure centres 
    • libraries
  • targeted short breaks are designed specifically to meet the needs of children, and include weekend, holiday activity schemes, and evening activities
  • specialist short breaks are services for disabled children with the most complex needs. Specialist short breaks support children, and their families where the child's disability has a substantial and long term effect on their ability to have opportunities to be safe, develop skills for life and be part of their local community growing up
  • care support, this can be at home or outside the home for a specific assessed need, it might include:
    • direct payments is a budget of money given to you to support with employing a carer within the home or community
    • domiciliary care: personal care provided at home and in the community
    • overnight stays: your child might stay at one of the local authority’s specialist residential children’s homes, which are registered and inspected by Ofsted to ensure outstanding care

Benefits of short breaks:

  • independence: children get to spend time away from their parents, boosting their independence
  • social skills: they have fun with friends, which helps develop their social skills
  • parent and carer support: parents and carers get a break from their responsibilities

Short breaks are designed to support children and their families before difficulties reach crisis point and to help families continue caring with confidence.

Helping activity workers understand your child's needs:

You can download the "All About Me" booklet to help activity workers understand and meet your child's needs. It can be filled in electronically or printed off.

Finding Short Breaks:

Visit the local Family Services Directory and search for short breaks and search for "short breaks." You can also search via our local offer, which brings together information for children and with special educational needs and disabilities and their families. 

 

Who are short breaks for?

Short breaks activities and provision are for children from birth to 18 years (up to their 18th birthday) with a disability.

Service How needs are identified Through discussion with Type of provision  
Universal (for everyone) self-refer or register parent or child club, sport, group activities and family breaks Ask provider about their fees
Targeted working with an agency or multi agency parent, child or agency targeted services (specialist holidays, youth and community clubs) Ask provider about their fees
Specialist social care assessment parent, child or social worker domiciliary care, family based short breaks, direct payments, overnights Social care assessment will decide

 

You can contact providers directly to find out the costs for their activities, using the contact details in the directory.

Getting the right support at the right time 

Lincolnshire's family help approach is about providing the right support, from the right person, at the right time.

Most children and with disabilities will access short breaks through services available in their local community. If more support is needed, families can move seamlessly between different levels of help:

  • universal support: activities, clubs, family hubs, schools, health services and community groups available to all children
  • early help: when additional support is needed, a trusted professional may work with your family and other services through a team around the family plan
  • family help: If needs are more complex and cannot be met through existing support networks, a family help worker may be allocated to coordinate additional support and help prevent difficulties from escalating

Children with disabilities social work team provides assessments for children with the most complex disabilities and needs.

Specialist short breaks support children and their families where the child’s disability has a substantial and long term effect on their ability to have opportunities to be safe, develop skills for life and be part of their local community growing up.

Safeguarding Support

Where there are concerns about a child's safety or welfare, specialist social work support may be required through child in need or child protection processes.

“Mission statement Lincolnshire is a place where every child thrives. We champion a happy, healthy childhood, where families are supported early and children are nurtured and empowered to grow into resilient, compassionate citizens who shape a better world.”  
Taken from family help strategy April 2026
 

Accessing specialised short breaks

Most children can access short breaks through community and targeted services.

Some children with more complex disabilities may need additional support, which can be considered through the children with disabilities (CWD)team following a child and family assessment.

Children who are typically eligible for service from CWD team include those with:

  • severe learning disabilities
  • complex physical disabilities
  • severe sensory impairments
  • profound and multiple disabilities
  • autism alongside significant learning disabilities and communication needs
  • complex health needs

To be considered for support from the children with disabilities team, a child will have a diagnosed disability or there will be clear professional evidence of a long-term or permanent disability that has a significant impact on their daily life.

If a child does not meet the criteria for support from the CWD team, they may still be eligible for help from other children's services teams.

Where appropriate, families will be signposted or referred to the service best placed to meet their needs.

A child and family assessment 

This assessment will help the CWD team to understand:

  • your child's needs
  • the impact on family life
  • the support already in place
  • whether specialist short breaks may be appropriate

Following the assessment, recommendations are considered by the CWD team to determine the most appropriate support. This may include support from other children's social care teams where this is more appropriate to the family's needs.

Support  may include:

  • direct payments
  • domiciliary care
  • overnight short breaks
  • specialist activities

A decision will always be shared with the family and explained clearly.

For more information and full eligibility criteria visit the children with disabilities team page. 

How to arrange an assessment

If you think your child needs an assessment, here's what you need to know.

Screening referrals

  • customer service team - they will review referrals. If your referral meets the eligibility criteria, your child will be assigned a social worker from the children with disabilities team. The social worker will contact you to start the child and family assessment

Other assessment options

  • early help assessments and team around the family - your child might be reffered to this service for an early help assessment (EHA)
  • family assessment support teams (FAST) - depending on your child's needs, they might be referred to FAST for a social care assessment

Who can refer?

  • parents or carers and professionals - both can refer children with a diagnosed disability that meets the criteria of severe and profound. If you prefer, a professional who knows your child can make the referral for you

Purpose of the assessment

The child and family assessment helps decide if your child (under 18) is eligible for social care support services.

Making a referral

To make a referral, please call our customer service centre at 01522 782111.

For more information, visit our children's services page

 

 

Transition to adulthood

Preparing for adulthood is an important part of helping children become as independent as possible.

If a young person is receiving support from children's services, planning for adulthood will take place as part of ongoing assessment, support planning and review processes.

Children's services will work with adult social care and other partner agencies where appropriate to help ensure a smooth transition into adulthood.

Children and their families will be involved in discussions about future support needs, aspirations and goals, including education, employment, health, independent living and community participation.

Where a child appears to have needs for care and support beyond the age of 18, a transition assessment may be considered under the Care Act 2014.

If you are already receiving support from children with disabilities social care team, you will automatically be referred to adult social care before your18th birthday.

Whilst the statutory short breaks duty applies to children up to their 18th birthday, additional educational, recreational and wellbeing opportunities may continue to be available for children through adult services, community provision and Lincolnshire's SEND local offer.

For further information about preparing for adulthood and adult social care support, visit:

Every child's journey is different. Planning early helps ensure the right support is in place to achieve their goals and maximise independence.

More to offer

Send local offer

Lincolnshire's local offer - find everything you need to know about SEND in one place.  The local offer brings together information for children with special educational needs and disabilities and their families. 

Family hubs

Lincolnshire County Council has been selected as one of 75 local authorities to benefit from the government’s Family Hubs programme.

Hosted by the Department for Education and Department for Health and Social Care, the programme aims to make a positive difference to families by providing high-quality, joined-up support services from pregnancy, through a child’s early years and up until they are 19 (or 25 for young people with special educational needs and disabilities). 

Holiday Activities and Food Programme (HAF)

HAF is a government funded programme that provides free holiday clubs for reception to year 11 pupils in receipt of benefits-related free school meals in Lincolnshire over the summer, Christmas and Easter holidays.

The HAF programme is designed to ensure a high-quality experience for children that will result in receiving healthy and nutritious meals and maintaining a healthy level of physical activity. 

Before and after school (wraparound) childcare

In Spring 2023, the government announced that it would support working families to access before and after-school childcare. This available from 8am to 6pm, in their local area or school site. Wraparound childcare is childcare that wraps around’ the school day, for example, before and after school. 

Start for life

Lincolnshire’s 48 children's centres are core to our Start for Life offer. The centres offer free stay-and-play drop-in sessions and universal programmes for all families from antenatal to age five. Further support is also available for children 5-19 (25 SEND). Visit your local children’s centre to find out more or visit the website

Early support care co-ordination (ESCO)

ESCO aims to raise the standards of care for children and young people, aged 0-18 who have significant and complex needs and require targeted coordination of services

Lincolnshire Parent Carer Forum (LPCF)

LPCF is specifically tasked with working alongside the local authority and health to help ensure that the services they plan, commission, deliver and monitor meet the needs of children with disabilities and SEND. 

Liaise – Send Information, advice and support

Liaise is Lincolnshire's special educational needs and disability information, advice and support service (SENDIASS).  They provide confidential and impartial information, advice and support to children and young people up to the age of 25, with SEND, and their parents and carers. 

Sibling support

Having a brother or sister with a disability, special educational need or long-term health condition can have a significant impact on a child or young person's life. Siblings may experience a range of emotions and often provide practical or emotional support to their family, even if they do not see themselves as carers. Lincolnshire recognises the important role sibling carers play and provides information about support available to young carers and siblings. For more information, visit the young carers and sibling carers pages. 
 

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The purpose of this statement

This service’s statement is for families living in Lincolnshire who have a child with a disability. It includes information on the purpose of the short breaks services statement and the current range of support available in Lincolnshire.  

The short breaks services statement sets out:

  • the councils duty
  • the criteria by which eligibility for services will be assessed and how to arrange an assessment
  • what short breaks are and how these services are designed to meet the needs of families who have a child with a disability

Our short breaks services statement was developed in partnership with the parent carer forum (LPCF) and Lincolnshire young voices to ensure it remains relevant to all. The statement is compliant with The Equality Act 2010 which is used to support the development of suitable provision with appropriate reasonable adjustments.
 

This statement is reviewed regularly and was last reviewed on 24 July 2026

Following the review:

Feedback said What we did
More information about the preparation of adulthood. Updated the transition to adulthood section and added links in further support.
Clearer examples of short breaks in bullet point format. There were added in the "What is a short break" section.
More information around sibling carers. A link has been added on the "More to offer" page

 

Definition of a disability

The Equality Act 2010 ('the Act') and Disability Discrimination Act 1995 ('DDA') define a disabled person:
'A person has a disability if they have a physical or mental impairment, and the impairment has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on the person's ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities.'

Our duty

The Children Act 1989 and the Breaks for Carers of Disabled Children Regulations 2011 place a duty on local authorities to provide a range of short break services for carers of disabled children and to publish a short breaks services statement.

As the legislation specifically relates to disabled children (defined under the Children Act 1989 as people under 18 years of age), this statement focuses on children with disabilities and their families.

Many children who access short breaks may also have Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND), however eligibility for short breaks is based on a child's disability and assessed needs.

The following legislation is also in place to protect and support children and their families:

We will check this short breaks statement annually to make sure it is up to date and relevant to the local needs of children and their families.

Relevant strategies and policies

The development of short breaks services in Lincolnshire is informed by a range of local strategies and plans, including: