What this consultation is about
We're now preparing to enter the seventh year of central government cuts to local council budgets and councils up and down the country have some difficult decisions to make.
By 2020, the funding we get from central government is expected to be more than a third less than in 2010.
Although we’ve done everything we can to keep services running while our budgets are cut back year-on-year we have had to scale back some we provide and this has included reducing the Aiming High Derbyshire Offer, which forms part of the menu of short breaks for disabled children
But these unprecedented cuts mean we are having to consider stopping the Aiming High Derbyshire Offer from 1 October 2016 and only providing access to short break services following a formal assessment to make sure that we’re targeting families who need it most.
We want your views on proposals to:
- stop the Aiming High Derbyshire Offer from 1 October 2016
- only provide access to specialist short break services following an assessment of families’ needs by Derbyshire’s children’s services
- where there is an assessed need, provide access to a range of short break services that are tailored to individual families’ circumstances and their assessed needs
- continue to give eligible families the choice of using direct payments to access short breaks.
Please send us your comments and help us to make the best possible decisions for Derbyshire with the money we have available.
What else you need to know
Following previous consultations, many people agreed that it was right to target funding and support to those families that need it most. We are now proposing that we provide short break services for disabled children and young people and their families only after a formal assessment that identifies the type and level of support they need. We are also proposing that the Aiming High branding would no longer be used.
These proposals would not affect the vital services we must provide by law to give essential support to families of disabled children and young people with the highest levels of need to enable them to care for their child at home.
For further information please see the frequently asked questions attached to this page.
This consultation is now closed. A report was presented to Cabinet, 24 May 2016, agenda item number 19.