Aiming high for disabled children (AHDC)

Welcome to the Buckinghamshire County Council Aiming High for Disabled Children website.

Paragraph 6(1)(c) of Schedule 2 to the Children Act 1989  requires local authorities to provide services designed to give breaks for carers of disabled children. In order to meet the requirements of the regulations, Local Authorities must prepare and publish a Short Breaks Services Statement by 1st October 2011.

Please see attached: Buckinghamshire Short Breaks Services Statement 2011/12.

This sets out the current position, so that families know what services are available, the eligibility criteria for these services, and how the range of services is designed to meet the needs of families with disabled children in their area.

It has taken into account the public consultation feedback and  it is an evolving document subject to change and that some aspects such as charges and the scope of eligibility assessments are under review.

To support the publication of the Buckinghamshire Short Breaks Services Statement 2011-12.  Please see attached document: Short Breaks Services in Buckinghamshire

Recent News

This website will be updated regularly to keep you up to date on the Short Breaks for Disabled Children Programme in Buckinghamshire.

Moving Forward – the Picture Regarding Short Breaks Funding 2011/12

Buckinghamshire was awarded £1,693,000 for 2010/11 in Aiming High for Disabled Children (AHDC) grant which has been invested in the transformation of short breaks for Buckinghamshire. This has seen a substantial growth in the range and amount of short beaks available across Buckinghamshire and in particular growth in community based short breaks, which families can open access though the provider.

Whilst the majority of funding has been used to support direct short break for disabled children and young people, some funding from the 2010/11 grant has also been used to support associated short break activity, for example developing disabled children and young people participation, development of parent participation, development of improved information for parents (website, newsletters and directory) and development of the short breaks workforce etc.

AHDC funding programme has now ended and funding for short breaks in contained within the new Early Intervention Grant (EIG). The EIG is not a ring fenced grant and could be used for any provision in Buckinghamshire. It is important to stress that the EIG is not “new money” it is a reduced amount of existing preventative and early year’s grants.

The overall reduction from year 10/11 to 11/12 nationally equated to 17.5%.

The County Council has protected EIG and maintained investment in preventative work over and above the allocation with funding of £17,754,913 which equates to a 9.24% reduction rather than 17.5%.

EIG grant for short breaks is confirmed by the Council at £1,691,793 for 20011/12 and would represent 9.53% of the overall EIG. Again the majority of this planned spend would be against direct short break services. This means that the Council has protected funding for short breaks as the amount for 2011/12 is the same as last years funding amount.

In addition to short breaks potentially funded by EIG other short breaks are funded through other Council and NHS Buckinghamshire funding. The residential overnight short break service which is used by children and young people (CYP) with the highest level of need/family need will be funded in 20011/12 as follows:

Buckinghamshire County Council: £1,727, 675
NHS Buckinghamshire: £643,610
Total - £2,371,285

It will also be funded at £200,000 through the short breaks element of the EIG to deliver outreach support.
This compares with a total spend on the residential service in 2010/11 of £2,544,061 (which included £70,039 from the 2010/11 AHDC budget).

The Council also funds the Take-a-Break service at an approx cost of £248,356 in 20010/11 from other Council funds and the budget for 2011/12 is £251,612.
The Council also funds the cost of individual short breaks through S17 funds, for example to attend BCCN community childminders, short breaks via workers through domiciliary care providers, Direct Payments etc. The budget for Direct Payments in 10/11 was £127,929 and will be £130,487 in 20011/12.

Parent Participation will be funded through short breaks element of EIG in 2011/12 at £38,618.

EIG will fund £60,830 to support transitions work in 2011/12, but other funding to support transitions is wrapped up in services provided by either Children & Young People’s Services or Adults and Family Wellbeing

EIG will fund £40,149 to maintain a Disabled Children’s Access to Childcare (DCATCH) service in Early Years in 2011/12, but other funding to support childcare (which would include disabled children) is provided by Early Years.