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Tell us your views on our proposed changes to the short breaks service.

What are Play and Leisure Short Breaks?

Play and Leisure Short Breaks are for children and young people with any disability. It is one of the council’s legal duties to provide them.

Play and Leisure Short Breaks give children and young people the chance to participate in educational and leisure activities in community venues across ßÙßÇÂþ»­, and give parent carers a break from caring. At the moment, about 900 children and young people use these services each year, and about 300 more are on waiting lists.

What is the consultation about?

There are changes being proposed to the Play and Leisure Short Breaks programme. The proposals are to ensure the programme remains sustainable and effective, and to provide greater equity and fairness in the process, so we can prioritise resource and manage demand.

The vision for Play and Leisure Short Breaks is an offer that prioritises inclusive access, community integration, and cost-effective support for those with the greatest need, across both specialist and mainstream community schemes.

This sits alongside needing to identify efficiencies and cost savings as part of the council’s need to achieve a balanced budget. In January 2025, the ßÙßÇÂþ»­ Cabinet set out the budget for 2025 to 2026, which incorporates the need to find £66 million in efficiencies across the council over the medium term. This includes £800,000 to be saved in 2026 to 2027 from the Short Breaks budget of £2.56 million, while still meeting the council’s Short Breaks statutory duties.

There are a number of proposals for the programme, which include:

• Introducing eligibility criteria
• Introducing a maximum level of provision that each child can access each year
• Focusing on inclusive mainstream provision alongside specialist provision, so that children can interact and play with a wide range of other children and feel part of the community
• Ensuring parent carer charges are consistent
• Providing flexible session lengths, and a greater proportion of sessions in the school holidays.

There is more information on these proposals, and the others which form part of our consultation, at .

There is also an Easy Read version of the proposals.

How do I give my views?

We want to hear your views on our proposals. Your feedback will help us to shape services that are fair, and better in line with current and future needs, whilst also remaining affordable and delivering good value for money with the available budget.

The consultation is open until Wednesday 4 March 2026.

Give your views at 

To ask for a paper copy or a different format: Contact us - general enquiries

Drop-in and online events

We are running some informal sessions where you can find out more about the proposed changes and ask any questions you have. (Please note that feedback on the proposals themselves will need to be provided via the consultation).

Drop in at any point during the times below and our team will be available to chat to you, answer questions and show you how to respond to the consultation.

Drop-in events

Online events

Or visit or the Teams app.

Meeting ID: 366 049 485 778 5

Passcode: Sv6wA2P3