Campaign group highlights deep cuts to short breaks funding

Campaign group Every Disabled Child Matters (EDCM) gathered short break spending data from 126 councils through a Freedom of Information Act request and found that 73 had made cuts between 2011 and 2015.

The average cut was 15 per cent, with some slashing up to 26 per cent. This is despite all councils being handed a combined £800m in extra funding between 2011 and 2015 to increase access to such breaks.

The figures have been released in a report published today by EDCM, called Short Breaks in 2015: An Uncertain Future.

It calls for the government in its autumn spending review to invest at least a further £800m in short breaks over the next four years.

The EDCM report also calls for tougher checks on councils to ensure they are providing support. It says all councils should be required to publish data on the level of short break provision in their area.

A Shorts Breaks Sufficiency Report should also be published each year setting out how each council is meeting its legal duty under the Children and Young Persons Act 2008 to provide short breaks to families with disabled children.

The EDCM says that without access to short breaks, the mental health of parents can suffer.

Short breaks have also been cited by parents as one of the most important factors in avoiding a relationship breakdown, according to the charity Contact-a-Family, which is part of the EDCM campaign.

Amanda Batten, Contact-a-Family chief executive and EDCM board member, said: “The value of investing in short breaks is beyond doubt. They save the state tens of millions of pounds by supporting parent carers to look after their disabled children, and they give disabled children and young people opportunities that their peers take for granted.

“Short breaks must remain a priority for local authorities, but they need the necessary funding to protect this essential service.

"The reasons to invest in short breaks remain as strong today as ever, and we urge the government to ensure the sustainability of short breaks for the future.”

Latest Department for Education figures show projected council spend on short breaks will be £903,000 less in 2015/16 than last year.