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Activities Unlimited - Short Breaks Personal Budgets
What is an SBPB?

What is a Short Breaks Personal Budget?

In addition to providing grants to activity providers, we also provide Short Breaks Personal Budgets directly to eligible families.

A Short Breaks Personal Budget is a sum of money paid directly to eligible families as a contribution to help your child access short breaks and to give you a break from your caring responsibilities.

Am I eligible?

Any parent carer of a child aged 0-18 with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) who lives in Suffolk can apply for an Activities Unlimited Short Breaks Personal Budget, although not all families who apply for a Personal Budget are eligible to receive one; budgets are reserved for those children, young people and families with moderate to significant needs.

How much could I receive?

Please note: This information below is intended as a guide only, to help parents, carers and practitioners understand the indicators we typically see at each level.

Each application is assessed across a range of areas, so the personal budget offered may vary slightly. Amounts and criteria published here are valid for the current financial year only, and may vary year on year due to local or national changes.

School age and post 16 budget indicators

Child or Young Person may:

Have low to middle Disability Living Allowance / Standard Personal Independence Payment.
Require short break activities where additional staff are required for extra supervision/support.
Attend a Mainstream education/post 16 setting/ specialist unit with Special Educational Needs (SEN) support.
Access some services across Education, Health and/or Social Care (maybe awaiting assessment or referral)

Child or Young Person’s self-assessment outcome indicates low to medium level of need.

Parent Carer self-assessment outcome indicates a personal budget would benefit their additional Short Break needs.

Child or Young Person may:

Have middle to high Disability Living Allowance/Standard to Enhanced Personal Independence Payment.
Attend a Moderate Learning disability education setting/ Mainstream education/post 16 setting or specialist unit with Special Educational Needs (SEN) support
Access some services across Education/Health and or Social Care. (Maybe awaiting assessment or referral).
Require Short Break activities where staff may have additional disability awareness training and or additional staff available for extra supervision and support.

Child or Young Person’s self-assessment outcome indicates a low to medium level of need.

Parent Carer self-assessment outcome indicates a personal budget would benefit their additional Short Break needs.

Child or Young Person may:

Have high Disability Living Allowance /Enhanced Personal Independence Payment.
Attend a Moderate Learning Disability education/ post 16 foundation or bespoke setting/ Alternative Tuition Services, additional Specialist Educational Needs (SEN) support required in education setting such as some 1-1 or specialist equipment.
Access a range of specialist services across Education/Health and or Social Care. (Maybe awaiting assessment or referral).
Require Short Break activities where qualified carers are on site and staffing ratio’s offer a higher level of supervision and support.

Child or Young Persons self-assessment outcome indicates a medium to high level of need.

Parent Carer self-assessment outcome indicates a personal budget would benefit their additional Short Break needs.

Child or Young Person may:

Have High Disability Living Allowance /Enhanced Personal Independence Payment
Access a Moderate to Severe Learning Disability/post 16 bespoke education setting/Alternative Tuition Services/additional Specialist Education Needs (SEN) support required in school such as regular 1-1 support/specialist equipment
Access a high level of specialist services across Education/Health and or Social Care, maybe awaiting assessment or referral.
Require Short Break activities where qualified carers are on site, some may require specialist training and offer a higher ratio of staff to children for extra supervision and support.

Child or Young Person’s self-assessment outcome indicates high to severe needs.

Parent Carer self-assessment outcome indicates a personal budget would benefit their additional Short Break needs.

Child or Young Person may:

Have High Disability Living Allowance /Enhanced Personal Independence Payment.
Access a Severe Learning Disability education setting/Alternative Tuition Services/additional Specialist Education Needs (SEN) support required in school such as constant 1-1 support/specialist equipment/ Independent Education setting/ Specialist Learning Support Assistance Service.
Access a high and frequent level of regular support from specialist care/health services for children and young people with complex needs, maybe awaiting assessment/referral.
Requires Short Break activities where qualified cares are on site with specialist medical training with a high level of supervision. May also access regular overnight short breaks.

Children and Young People’s self-assessment outcome indicates complex significant needs.

Parent Carer self-assessment outcome indicates a personal budget would benefit their additional Short Break needs.

Pre-school age budget indicators

Child may:

Have middle Disability Living Allowance
Attend a mainstream nursery or preschool setting where staff have some additional training to offer extra support for behaviour/medical reasons.
Access some specialist services across Education/Health and or Social Care. (Maybe awaiting assessment or referral).

Child’s self-assessment outcome indicates medium level of need.

Evidence can be provided from a professional supporting this Short Break Personal Budget application.

Parent Carer self-assessment outcome indicates a personal budget would benefit their additional Short Break needs.

Child may:

Have middle to high Disability Living Allowance.
Attend a mainstream or specialist nursery/ preschool setting where staff have additional training to offer extra support. May also require constant 1-1 support/specialist equipment for complex behaviour/medical reasons.
Access some specialist services across Education/Health and or Social Care. (Maybe awaiting assessment or referral).

Evidence can be produced from a professional supporting this Short Break Personal Budget application.

Child’s self-assessment outcome indicates a medium level of need.

Parent Carer self-assessment outcome indicates a personal budget would benefit their additional Short Break needs.

Child may:

Have high Disability Living Allowance.
Attend a mainstream or specialist nursery/ preschool setting where staff have additional training to offer extra support. May also require constant 1-1 and support/specialist equipment for complex severe behaviour/medical reasons.
Access a range of specialist services across Education/Health and or Social Care. (Maybe awaiting assessment or referral).

Evidence can be produced from a professional supporting this Short Break Personal Budget application.

Child’s self-assessment score indicates a to high level of need.

Parent Carer self-assessment outcome indicates a personal budget would benefit their additional Short Break needs.

Child may:

Have high Disability Living Allowance.
Be unable to attend a mainstream or specialist nursery/ preschool setting due to complex medical/behaviour needs.
Access a high level of very specialist services across Health and or Social Care. (Maybe awaiting assessment or referral).
Access support from a children’s hospice.

Evidence can be produced from a professional supporting this Short Break Personal Budget application.

Child’s self-assessment score indicates a high level of need.

Parent Carer self-assessment outcome indicates a personal budget would benefit their additional Short Break needs.

How do you assess applications?

Our online application form asks a range of questions about you and your child’s needs. We use a range of indicators to try and build as full a picture of your family’s needs as possible, whilst keeping the application process as simple for families to complete as we can.

The information provided is grouped into nine indicator areas:

Parent/Carer self-assessed need
Child/young person self-assessed need
Education setting / type
Level of Education High Needs Funding received
Parent / Carer DLA/PIP
Child / Young Person DLA/PIP
Social, Emotional and Mental Health Services Involvement
Health Services Involvement
Social Care Services Involvement

The parent carer self-assessment is based on the needs of the main carer completing the form. It considers the following:

The parent carer’s own health needs.
If they have support from family and friends,
If they care for others
The impact of their caring role in accessing their community, being able to work, quality of sleep and spending time with others.

The self- assessment of the child’s needs asks questions about the following areas:

Sensory
Physical Health
Mobility
Communication
Self-care
Social and Emotional Health and Wellbeing
Learning Disabilities
The type of education support in place
Services the child is accessing plus how often
The child’s level of disability benefit.

Once the application is submitted, the system grades each of these indicators between 1-5 depending on the severity of need in this area, and these then generates an overall score. This score determines the eligibility for a Personal Budget and the level of budget to be awarded.

If you have a query that isn’t answered on these pages, you can email AU at info@activities-unlimited.co.uk or call us on 01473 260026.

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