Wiltshire Council Review – Wiltshire Short Breaks Scheme

Wiltshire’s Short Breaks Scheme

It is possible that the Short Breaks Scheme could look different next year. Your voice is needed to make sure any changes to the scheme are informed by your thoughts and suggestions.

Coproduced in participation with parent carers, the Wiltshire Short Breaks Scheme is one of Wiltshire’s great successes, highly regarded and valued by hundreds of families of children and young people with SEND. Wiltshire Council commissioners are looking to review the Short Breaks Scheme and want to ensure parent carers inform any decisions.

We know the Short Breaks Scheme works for some people, but also there are challenges for some families and we want to talk about this. For instance: –

• What’s good about the Scheme?
• Is the Payment Option working?
• Could changes be made to the Scheme to enable more children and young people to access it?
• Is there anything that could be done differently?

To enable parent carers to inform decisions about the future of Wiltshire’s Short Breaks Scheme, the WPCC is running some engagement sessions on the following dates: –

• Friday 9th June – Calne (bookings now closed)
• Thursday 15th June – Salisbury
• Friday 16th June – Marlborough

All sessions will run from 10am until 2pm, parent carers will be able to claim travel expenses, refreshments and a simple buffet lunch will be provided. Venue details are on the booking form. The WPCC is working on a way for parent carers who are unable to attend the sessions to contribute and we will provide details in due course.

There is still time to book but places are going quickly at some of the venues, so please book now to avoid missing out. Parent carers said they wanted engagement sessions in the East of the County. In response to this, the Council booked a venue in Marlborough. Numbers at this venue are low at the moment, please book now to avoid this session being cancelled.

Further details can be found on the flyer (Short Breaks Scheme – June 2023).