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Organisations who offer targeted short break services for children and young people with SEND and the type of break they offer.
The organisations we work with all provide targeted short breaks for carers and activities for disabled children and young people.
WECIL
WECIL Go to http://www.wecil.org.uk/ (opens new window) lead a service called Out and About Go to https://wecil.org.uk/children-young-people/out-about-bristol/ (opens new window), which includes:
- WECIL youth clubs, for young people aged 13 to 18, regular sessions across the city including Saturdays (young people need to attend the youth clubs in order to attend the Saturday trips)
- regular sessions for children and young people aged 5 to 18 with sensory impairments
- WECIL transitions group for young people aged 19 to 25 to help them with independent living skills
- WECIL stay and play sessions for children aged 5 to 12, and drop off play sessions for children aged 8 to 12, these are both usually on a Saturday
- Time2Share @ Wecil, a befriending service
- KHAAS Go to http://www.khaas.co.uk/ (opens new window) work with BAME children aged 5 to 19, Saturday clubs and days out during the holidays
- FACE Go to http://facecharity.org.uk/ (opens new window) hold regular out of school clubs for neurodiverse children and young people, aged 8 to 12 and 13 to 18
For information about these services:
- email outandabout@wecil.org.uk
- call 0117 947 9911
WECIL also run specialised holiday short breaks for young people aged 5 to 18.
WECIL's holiday short breaks are for children and young people with complex needs or challenging behaviour. Children and young people who attend must either go to a specialist education provision or be on the waiting list for a specialist education provision.
Children and young people will be offered one 5 hour session per week during school holidays (excluding Christmas).
For more information about these services:
- email HSB@wecil.org.uk
- call 0117 947 9911
For information about these services see the pdf Out and About leaflet (8.93 MB) .
Holiday activities for autistic children
FACE and the Bristol Autism Project Go to http://facecharity.org.uk/our-work/bristol-autism-project/ (opens new window) offer inclusive family activities for autistic children during school holidays.
- Email: bap@facecharity.org.uk
- Phone: Face Office – 0117 969 138
Short breaks small grants
We're running two small grants for community-based organisations who can deliver short breaks. These will run until 31 March 2024.
These two projects will focus on the outdoors.
Mud Pie Explorers
An exciting opportunity for children and young people with a disability or an additional need to experience Forest School Activities as part of a supported group.
This is aimed at children and young people who are aged 8 to 12 years old.
Mud Pie Explorers is providing after school courses (1 in Downend and 1 in Southmead) as well as sessions during Easter and summer holidays
If this sounds like something your child or young person would be interested in, email office@mud-pies.co.uk
Hartcliffe City Farm
Providing farm sessions for children and young people with a disability or additional need aged 8 to 12 years old.
Hartcliffe City Farm are providing a mixture of after school, weekend and holiday sessions.
The sessions will include activities that focus on looking after animals, gardening, cooking and nature.
If this sounds like something your child or young person would be interested in, email Catherine.Ware@windmillhillcityfarm.org.uk
Spaces are limited and once spaces have been allocated, then a waiting list will be in operation.
These projects will not be able to offer a place to any children or young people who are already attending a Bristol City Council funded short break.
Which type of short break your child needs and how to get one.
Not all children and families need the same type of short break.
Our
pdf
short breaks statement for 2023
(897 KB)
describes how we decide which type of short break is most suitable for your family.
Universal services
Universal short break services are for all children and young people, with and without additional needs. You can go directly to them and you don't need an assessment.
Targeted services
Targeted short break services are for disabled children and young people in Bristol who:
- are aged between 5 and 18 years old
- live in the Bristol City Council area or are a child in care placed by Bristol City Council
- have a disability, impairment or additional needs so that they need support to take part in social and play activities
They are services for:
- disabled children
- young people who have multiple needs because of emotional or physical difficulties,
- young people who may be affected by problems in their family
You can refer yourself for a targeted short break service. Contact a targeted short breaks service to find out about eligibility criteria.
Bristol Autism Project (run by FACE)
- Email: bap@facecharity.org.uk
- Phone: Face Office – 0117 969 138
Out and About
- Email: outandabout@wecil.co.uk
- Phone: 0117 947 9911
Find organisations in Bristol that provide targeted short break services.
Specialist services
Specialist short break services are for families with disabled children and young people who need more support than you can get through universal and targeted services.
Specialist services include:
- personal assistants to support your child in community activities
- family based overnight and day care
- residential overnight short breaks
- holiday clubs
- SEN Support at your child's education setting
- services from the Bristol Autism team
- a personal budget and direct payments
- health services
To get a specialist short break your family should have a social care assessment of need which is completed by the Disabled Children's Service or a social worker.
The assessment will decide what services your family needs and at what level. The Child's Resource Panel for Specialist Services will discuss your child's assessment. The Disabled Children's Services will then tell you the type of short break or support that has been agreed.
You can ask for an assessment for your child. Call First Response on 0117 903 6444 to ask for an assessment.
Universal, targeted and specialist short breaks for children and young people with SEND.
Children, young people and their families have different levels of need, and these needs may change over time. We organise short breaks into three services by the levels of need:
- universal
- targeted
- specialist
1. Universal services
Universal services are for all children, young people and their families with or without SEND.
They include:
- play schemes
- holiday activities
- after school clubs
- youth clubs
- beavers and scouts
- brownies and guides
- libraries
- playgrounds and parks
2. Targeted services
These are for disabled children and young people who need:
- extra support
- groups or services that are specifically designed
You can attend these without referral if you meet the criteria that the provider has. You may also be referred to a targeted service by a professional. They include:
- Saturday clubs
- sports, leisure and youth clubs
- buddying and befriending
- holiday activities
Bristol City Council's Family Support and Inclusion team help disabled children find fun activities in their local communities. If children need help to settle in, we can pay for a worker to go with them. We can also train staff on how to make sure disabled children are included in the activities.
3. Specialist services
These are for disabled children when their social care assessment shows that they:
- have severe and complex needs
- need extra support to access a special special range of activities based on the child or young person's needs
- are a priority for safeguarding reasons
The social work assessment will look at the child's needs, their family needs and what support they already have.
Find out how to get a short break.
The short breaks service statement, what short breaks are, who they're for and how to arrange one.
Short breaks service statement
Read pdf Bristol's short breaks statement for 2023 (897 KB) .
The short breaks for disabled children service statement tells you:
- what short breaks are available
- who these services are for
- how we've designed a range of services to meet the needs of families
- how we evaluate services and make sure they're meeting our standards
We review the statement every year to make sure it's up to date.
Read the full short breaks policy.
Find out what types of short breaks are available.
What short breaks are
Short breaks are activities for disabled children and young people and their families.
They give disabled children and young people the chance to:
- spend time away from their parents and carers to build independence skills
- take part in activities and try new things
- relax and have fun with their friends
This gives parents and carers a break so that they can:
- spend time with other family members and friends
- rest and unwind
- do other things they enjoy
A short break can be a few hours to a week to overnight stays. They can be in the day, evening or at weekends at:
- the child's home
- the home of an approved short break carer
- a residential or community setting outside of school, such as after school clubs
Residential and overnight short breaks are registered with and inspected by Ofsted. Short breaks can include:
- families taking a break together, away from the routine of daily life
- a break for your child away from the family
- group activities like a youth club for children and young people
- holiday play schemes
- sports, arts or music activities
- one to one support so your child can take part in activities such as cinema trips
By law, local authorities must have a range of short breaks services. They must also have a short breaks statement that lets people know about these services and who they're for.
Types of short breaks services
Universal services
These services are for all children and young people.
Targeted services
These services are only for disabled children and young people.
You can book these activities by contacting the provider. Find out more about these services and who to contact.
Specialist services
These services are for disabled children and young people who need the most support. This is usually because they have a severe disability. To use these services, families need to have a social work assessment. Find out more about specialist short breaks services.
Find out more about the different types of short breaks services.
Who short breaks services are for
Targeted and specialist short break services are for children and young people who:
- are aged 5 to 18 years old
- live in the Bristol area or are a child in care placed by Bristol City Council and have a life-limiting or long-term health condition or disability
Some short breaks activities are just for children, others are for teenagers and young people. Some are for children and young people with certain types of disabilities or impairments, such as autism or sensory impairments.
Find out more about organisations that offer targeted short breaks.
Find out how to get a short break.
How short breaks services help children and young people and their families
Short breaks services help:
- families to stay together
- children and young people and their families to be healthy and happy
- children and young people to learn new skills
- children and young people to have fun with their friends and make new ones
- children and young people to be more independent
How children and families have helped to shape short breaks services
In 2018 and 2019 we listened to lots of disabled children and their parents and carers so we could better understand what they want from short breaks services. We used this feedback to design the short breaks services in Bristol.
What parents and carers told us
"A break from caring is the most important thing that helps me to cope."
"We just want to do ordinary things for a while."
"Fun activities with our kids are great, but they don't always give us a break from caring."
"Give us more evening and weekend breaks - I want a night off!"
What children and young people told us
"We want more things to do and more places to go."
"We want to do the same fun things as our brothers and sisters and friends."
"We want more access to ordinary activities that all other young people use, such as youth clubs and leisure activities."
"We don't understand who can access what."
"It's the transport, I can never get there."
Short breaks services ask for feedback from children and young people who attend and their parents to make their services better.
Recommissioning our Short Breaks
We're starting a process to recommission our Short Breaks offer.
At this early stage, we're focussed on listening to parents/carers and young people to understand what:
- the priorities for Short Breaks are
- services they would like to access
The feedback we gather from our engagement work will be used to develop formal proposals that will go out to public consultation later this year.
Our aim is to have recommissioned services in place by October 2023.
Tell us what you think
We want your feedback about our pdf short breaks statement for 2023 (897 KB) and the services it describes.
SEND Local Offer website accessibility advice and our accessibility statement.
Access keys and skip links
Our site does not use access keys.
A skip link appears if you use the tab key to move the cursor on the page. The skip link allows you to jump to the main content.
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Help with changing text in your browser.
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The following applies to desktop and laptop computers and not tablets or mobiles.
PDF documents: most computers will show these automatically. If you need the software you can download the free PDF reader from the Adobe website.
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Getting help
If you have difficulty in using our website, telephone or textphone our main contact centre or email us at website@bristol.gov.uk.
Translation
We may be able to provide the documents on this website in another language. To find out more, email bristollocaloffer@bristol.gov.uk. You'll need to tell us which document from the Local Offer website you need translated and which language you need it translated to.
Services for deaf people
Deaf people can call the council using SignVideo Web Access online interpreting service, from their own home, for free.
Accessibility statement
We are committed to providing a website that is accessible to the widest possible audience, regardless of technology or ability. We are actively working to increase the accessibility and usability of our website.
We believe that web pages of this site meet Double-A of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.1 Go to https://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG21/ (opens new window). These guidelines explain how to make web content more accessible for disabled people.
This accessibility statement applies only to our main website www.bristol.gov.uk. It does not apply to sub-domains of bristol.gov.uk (like maps.bristol.gov.uk) or other websites that are linked from our pages.
Parts of our site that are not fully accessible - exceptions
Updated: 23 June 2017.
Whilst we try to meet the accepted guidelines and standards for accessibility, it is not always possible to do so in all areas of the website. The following parts of the site are not level Double-A compliant.
On our website
Some of our own web applications need improving and we are working through these. Some are old software that we cannot easily change.
- Adult care self referral form
- Collection day finder (screen reader problem)
- Financial assessment form
- Fly-tipping report form (screen reader problem)
- Graffiti and fly- posting report form
- Local election results
- Mapping and My Neighbourhood system
- Street cleansing report form
From external websites
Some parts of this site link to or use content provided by other websites and these are not always as accessible as our site. Examples of these are:
- Video from YouTube
- Tweets and the Twitter panels from Twitter
- Maps from Google
- Photos from Flickr
- Surveys using SurveyMonkey
- Facebook widgets
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