Provision of Community Short Breaks for Children with Disabilities and their Families in Bedford Borough 2026

Bedford Borough Council provides a range of Short Break Services that are designed to assist individuals who provide care for CYP with Special Educational Needs and/or Disabilities (SEND). The provision of short breaks is a statutory requirement under the Children and Families Act 2014. Local authorities are required to provide access to services that are designed to assist individuals who provide care for children with SEND to continue to do so, or to do so more effectively, by giving them breaks from caring. Local authorities must offer short breaks as part of a preventative model in keeping families together, preventing family breakdown and preventing CYP with SEND becoming children looked after.

Short Breaks Services have been defined as services that give CYP with SEND enjoyable experiences away from their primary carers, thereby contributing to their personal and social development and reducing social isolation; and services that provide parents and families a necessary and valuable break from their caring responsibilities.

Short Breaks Services can include day-time or overnight care in the homes of CYP with SEND or elsewhere, educational or leisure activities outside their homes, or services available to assist carers in the evenings, at weekends and during the school holidays.