have your say on possible changes to short break activities for … · 2020-03-06 · have your say...

Have your say on possible changes to short break activities for children and young people

with disabilities

From Monday 9 March to Sunday 31 May 2020

Information Pack

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What’s inside?

Introduction ........................................................................... 3

The County Council Budget ............................................. 7

Part 1: Short break activities in Hampshire .............. 13

Part 2: Possible changes to short break activities in Hampshire ............................................................................ 19

8 ideas for changing short break activities in Hampshire ............................................................................ 21

Tell us what you think ...................................................... 45

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Introduction

Hampshire County Council wants to find out

what local people and organisations think about possible changes to short break activities.

Please read this Information Pack before you complete the Easy Read Feedback Form.

Any changes to short break activities would start after 31 March 2021.

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The chance to have your say starts on Monday 9 March 2020.

Please complete the Feedback Form

and return it to us by Sunday, 31 May 2020.

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Our 5 rules The County Council promises to follow 5 rules when we carry out all our surveys.

1 – Give local people the chance to have their say about changes to services.

2 – Give local people enough time to tell us what they think about the changes.

3 – Give local people the chance to be involved.

4 – Use clear and easy to understand information, such as Easy Read.

5 – Make sure that what we find out, helps the County Council to decide how services may change.

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Your feedback is important

It is important that everyone who could be affected by the possible changes to short break activities has their say:

• children and young people

• their families and carers

• local people and organisations.

The final report about this feedback will be ready later in 2020.

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The County Council Budget

The County Council thinks it will need to save about eighty million pounds by 31 March 2021.

Possible changes to short break activities could save the County Council nearly six hundred and ninety-six thousand pounds every year.

The County Council needs to make some difficult choices about the services it can provide in the future.

In 2019 the County Council asked local people about how it could spend its money.

To find out more search for ‘Hants Balancing the Budget’.

£80million

£696,000

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How to give us your feedback

There are several ways to tell the County Council what you think about the possible changes to short break activities.

1. The Feedback Form

You can: • complete an online Easy Read

Feedback form by going to www.hants.gov.uk and search for short break consultation.

• email your completed survey to [email protected]

• post your completed Easy Read Feedback Form using your pre-paid envelope.

http://www.hants.gov.uk/

mailto:[email protected]

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If you do not have a pre-paid envelope, please write on the front of your envelope: Freepost HAMPSHIRE

Write IEU on the back of the envelope. This makes sure it goes to the right office.

You do not need to use a stamp.

2. Drop-in events for parents and

carers

You can just turn up at the drop-in events to: • find out more about our ideas to

change the short break activities

IEU

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• talk to Hampshire County Council staff

• get a paper copy of the Information Pack and Feedback Form

• For a list of the drop-in events go to

www.hants.gov.uk and search for short break consultation.

3. Focus groups for young people

The County Council will work with: • Special Schools

• organisations that run short break

activities


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to make sure we find out what young people think about the possible changes to short break activities.

4. Question and answer sessions

on the internet

The County Council is going to run 2 Facebook Live sessions with the Hampshire Parent Carer Network.

Session 1 is on Tuesday 24 March 2020

From 12pm to 1pm

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Session 2 is on Tuesday 28 April 2020

From 1pm to 2pm

You can ask a question if you join the Facebook Live session on these days and times.

Or you can watch a recording of the sessions after they have taken place.

For more information about the drop-in sessions, focus groups and Facebook Live go to: www.hants.gov.uk and search for short break consultation.


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The law says that the County Council should run services for children and young people with disabilities, and their parents or carers.

We only want to get your feedback about short break activities.

Hampshire’s short break activities support parents or carers to have a break from caring.

Short break activities give children and young people with disabilities the chance to have fun and learn new things.

Part 1: Short break activities in Hampshire

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Charities, special schools and community groups run short break activities.

Short break activities can include:

1. Play schemes and youth schemes

2. Support for disabled children or young people to take part in an activity of their choice

3. Community Buddy Scheme that pairs up children and young people with a supporter to help them do things they want to do in the community.

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Organisations can apply for funding for different activities.

Money from the short break budget also pays to run:

• the Hampshire Parent Carer Network, which is an organisation that supports parents and carers in Hampshire

• computer systems that run the Gateway Card – the card makes it easy for cardholders to use short break activities.

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Gateway cards Gateway Cards are available to children or young people:

• aged up to 18 years old

• with a disability

• who need support to take part in a leisure activity

• who live in Hampshire

When a child or young person has a Gateway Card, they can take part in any short break activity.

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For more information go to www.hants.gov.uk and search for Gateway card.

Since April 2019 nearly 2500 young people have got a Gateway Card.

482 people with a Gateway Card had a short break activity from April to November 2019.


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Saving money in Children’s Services

Children’s Services needs to save £17.2 million by April 2021.

For the year from 1 April 2020 to 1 April 2021, £1.7 million pays for all short break activities and to run the Hampshire Parent Carer Network.

The County Council is looking to save nearly six hundred and ninety-six thousand pounds from the short break budget.

£696,000

£17.2 million

£1.7 million

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The County Council has been making savings on services since 2008.

We need to make more savings because:

• we get less money from the Government

• more people want to use services

• the cost of running services is going up.

Part 2: Possible changes to short break activities in Hampshire

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In this part, we look at possible changes to short break activities to:

• save money

• make the best use of funding

Hampshire Parent Carer Network and people with Gateway Cards gave feedback on the 8 ideas for changing short break activities.

Many thanks to everyone who helped to come up with the ideas.

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8 ideas for changing short break activities in Hampshire

Idea 1: Fund short break activities the same way, with less money

Short break activities are run by different organisations in Hampshire.

The short break activities cost £1.2 million pounds out of a £1.4 million budget.

Short break activities must be weekend, school holidays or youth club activities that take place all over Hampshire.

The money to pay for short break activities may be cut by an amount between £512,000 and £696,000.

£1.2 million

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In the last year, the County Council funded more of some types of short break activities than it planned to.

But only 1 out of 5 people that have a Gateway Card go on short break activities.

The County Council would work with families and short break organisations to:

• find out the kind of short break activities that people would like to do

• make sure local families can take the short break activities that they need.

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If the budget is cut, some parents and carers may find short break activities they use are:

• not funded

• provided by different organisations

• only available in a different place in Hampshire

• only available monthly instead of weekly

Short break organisations may:

• need to change the short break activities they run

• find it difficult to get funding.

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Idea 2: Only fund certain short break activities

Short break organisations can get funding for:

• short break activities that are important such as youth clubs, activities clubs and play schemes in school holidays and at weekends

• other activities - but the organisation must explain why a young disabled person wants to take part in this activity.

From 2019 to 2021 there is a budget of £136,000 for other activities.

Over the last 3 years, £450,000 has been set aside for these activities but not spent.

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If only certain short break activities were funded:

• the fund for other activities would be removed, or this fund would be smaller.

• parents and carers would be clear about which short break activities were available

• short break organisations would

only have one way to apply for funding

• it would be easier to manage funding for short break activities in Hampshire.

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Idea 3 - short break organisations must get money from other funders

Short break organisations can apply for:

• the extra costs to run an activity for a child or young person with a disability

• the cost of a short break activity, if parents cannot pay.

Short break organisations should show how they are going to help pay for extra costs.

This could be from another grant or from fundraising.

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For example, the short break organisations would need to find:

• £100 from another funder • to get £1000 from the County

Council.

Short break organisations would need to show how they are going to get extra funds.

The County Council is asking short break organisations how long their funding should last, to make this easier.

It may be difficult for short break organisations to get funding, so they may close or provide different activities.

The cost to parents or carers for a short break activity would not change.

This could mean an extra £65,000 every year to pay for short break activities.

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Idea 4 - Less money for the Hampshire Parent Carer Network

Many parent and carer groups in England work with local councils and other organisations to run good services for children and young people with disabilities.

Every parent and carer group gets fifteen thousand pounds every year from the Department for Education.

The Hampshire Parent Carer Network supports local parents and carers and works with the County Council to make services better.

The County Council has been giving the Hampshire Parent Carer Network £35,000 every year.

In the future, Hampshire Parent Carer Network could get £17,500 from Children’s Services each year.

£15,000

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This is because about half of the work that Hampshire Parent Carer Network does is for Children’s Services.

This means Hampshire Parent Carer Network would:

• do less work with Children’s Services

• possibly apply for money from other funders to carry on running all its activities.

This would not affect parents and carers who use short break activities.

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Idea 5: Funding for short break activities is arranged with other organisations

The County Council could work with other organisations who give funding for community activities.

This could be done by working together to give out funds for short break activities.

Or the County Council could ask another organisation to do this work for us.

This could mean:

• the County Council and another organisation work together to fund short break activities

• a new organisation could get businesses and people to donate money.

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A new organisation may charge the County Council a fee, even if they do not bring in extra funds.

If we work together, all applications would be checked by a new joint panel.

This would mean the County Council does not pay an extra fee.

Parents and carers could find:

• organisations start to run different short break activities

• different short break activities are run in their area.

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If the funding for all short break activities is in one place, there could be:

• more short break activities to choose from

• less community activities.

If a new organisation manages short break activity funding, the Gateway Card would stay the same.

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Idea 6 – Change the Gateway Card offer, so it has 2 parts

In November 2019, nearly 2,500 people had Gateway Cards in Hampshire.

If you have a Gateway Card, you can:

1. go on short break activities

2. go to local places such as indoor play areas and save money

482 people with a Gateway Card went on a short break activity in November 2019.

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If we had 2 parts to the Gateway Card offer:

Part 1 would be for people who use the Gateway Card to get money off when they visit local places such as play schemes.

Part 2 would be for people who use the Gateway Card to use short break activities.

This would also make it easier for the County Council to find out how people are using their Gateway Card and to plan new services.

Other local councils, such as Southampton and Portsmouth City Councils do this too.

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When you apply for a Gateway Card now you need one of these documents:

• a letter from a GP or health professional

• a letter from a teacher or Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator

• proof that you get Disability Living Allowance or Personal Independence Payment

• proof that you have an Education, Health and Care Plan

• a letter from a social care professional.

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If the Gateway Card had 2 parts:

• if you wanted a Gateway Card to save money at local places or activities, you would only need to show one document from the list on the last page.

• if you wanted a Gateway Card to go on a short break activity, you would need one thing from the list below:

o show that you get Disability

Living Allowance or Personal Independence Payment

o show that you have an

Education, Health and Care Plan

o a referral from a social worker.

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If you think your needs are not being met, you could ask for a social care assessment.

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Idea 7 - Young people can take no more than 30 short break activities every year

Now anyone with a Gateway Card can go on as many short break activities as they can find.

Since April 2019:

• most young people who had been on a short break activity had only been once

• but some young people with a Gateway Card had been on 67 short break activities.

Children’s Services would like there to be less difference.

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If this was agreed a young person could go on no more than 30 activities every year.

This would mean:

• some parents and carers may go on fewer short break activities

• some parents may be able to go on short break activities they could not book before

• families can ask for a social care assessment if they do not think their needs are being met.

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Idea 8: The Community Buddy Scheme could change

The Community Buddy Scheme gives young people with a Gateway Card one-to-one support.

A Community Buddy:

• supports local young people with disabilities aged 7 to 19 years old

• goes with a young person to their activity and supports them to do the things they want to do.

55 young people had a Community Buddy in November 2019. But it is difficult to find new buddies.

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Sometimes one-to-one support is not the right support for a young person.

Young people in Hampshire want a Community Buddy:

• to get more independence • to have fun or • to be more confident.

If the new Community Buddy Scheme is agreed:

• there would be 1 organisation that finds new Community Buddies.

• parents would have to pay £6.50

per hour for the services from April 2021, which is £1.50 more per hour.

• parents would have to pay more for the travel costs of the buddy.

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This could mean there is an extra eight thousand pounds to run the Community Buddy Scheme every year.

A new Community Buddy service could:

• provide one-to-one support to help someone be more independent

• support groups of young people with disabilities

• be for young people up to 18 years old

£8,000

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• not be available for young people who live outside the Hampshire County Council area.

This new Community Buddy Scheme could save up to eleven thousand pounds every year.

If there is a new Community Buddy Scheme, it could mean that:

• the Community Buddy service may change for those who already use it

• some young people who do not have a Community Buddy may get one

• parents and carers would have to pay more per hour for a buddy’s travel costs

£11,000

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• any young people over 18 years old will not be able to use the service

• young people who do not live in the Hampshire County Council area could not use the service

• if 1 organisation runs the Community Buddy scheme, other organisations may not get funding.

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*Tell us what you think

Thank you for reading this Easy Read Information Pack.

To complete the Easy Read Feedback Form, go to www.hants.gov.uk and search for short break consultation.

Please tell us what you think by Sunday 31 May 2020.

The final report will be ready later in 2020.

It will be shown to Councillor Patricia Stallard, the County Councillor in charge of services for children and young people.


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The report will help the County Council to make decisions about short break activities.

Other ways to read this document

Do you need the Easy Read Information Pack or Easy Read Feedback Form in another format?

• Large print

• Audio – a recording of this document spoken out loud, that can be played on your device or CD player.

• Braille

If you have any questions about this Easy Read Information Pack, you can:

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Email us at [email protected]

Call: 0300 555 1384

0300 calls are usually free from both mobiles and landlines, or you may be charged the local rate.

When you have finished with this Easy Read document, please give it to someone else so that they can give their feedback.

Published March 2020

mailto:[email protected]

have your say on possible changes to short break activities for … · 2020-03-06 · have your say...

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