SEND Local Offer - Short Breaks - Frequently asked questions

Find answers to frequently asked questions about Nottinghamshire County Council funded short breaks.

Online form and making an application

Who can help me complete the online assessment form?

If you need help with completing the online form, we have guidance on the Short Breaks - Online assessment page.

If you need help completing the application, contact the Ask Us Nottinghamshire service by

telephone: 0800 1217772
email: enquiries@askusnotts.org.uk

What should I do if my documents have not been accepted?

You may have attempted to upload incorrect or out of date document.

Please refer to the guidance within the Local Offer explaining which documents are needed to support your application. Then check that the documents are current. If your documents were not accepted the first time you applied you can apply again using the correct documents needed.

Learn about the documents you need at Short Breaks - Eligibility criteria.

Who can make an application for short breaks?

For children below 16 years of age - you do not need to be the parent or legal guardian of the child to fill out the form, but you must have explicit permission from the parent or legal guardian with parental authority for those children.

For young people aged 16 and 17 years - you must have the permission of the young person, where they have capacity. This must be indicated on the online application form.

For young people aged 16 and 17 years - you can make a direct application to the Council for a short break.

What support is available if my child is under 5 years of age?

Support is offered through Family Hub Networks for children under age 5. Information about Family Hub Networks can be found here:

Family Hub Networks (Nottinghamshire County Council)

Is there a time restriction when filling in the online form?

For data security purposes the form will time out after an hour if the data has not been submitted, this is to limit the potential for a data breach.

Can I apply for Short Breaks if my child is currently Electively Home Educated and does not hold an Education Health and Care Plan?

Short Breaks cannot be used in place of education. However, you can apply for Short Breaks if you wish your child to participate in positive activities which promote independence and provide the parents or carers a break from caring.

Go to the Short Breaks - Eligibility criteria page to find out if you qualify

Allocation and appeal

What happens if the initial online assessment form indicates that my child is not eligible for a council funded short break?

If your application is not successful, you will receive information about alternative sources of support. You will also be directed to the Local Offer website which contains up to date information about providers of short breaks in Nottinghamshire.

When will I receive short break support for my child?

The initial decision about eligibility is provisional and dependent upon the supporting documentation being correct and up to date.

Once the supporting information has been checked you will receive an email informing you of the decision. It will outline the next steps include the time frames you might expect.

What if I don’t agree with the outcome of the online assessment form?

An appeal form is available on the Short Breaks: What happens next? page

This will need to be completed within 10 days of receiving the decision by email at sbassessment.review@nottscc.gov.uk

You can also return the form by post to

Short Break Assessment and Review Team
Ground Floor
Meadow House
Littleworth
Mansfield
Notts
NG18 2TB

Once a completed appeal form has been received, parents or carers can expect to receive an email or letter within 5 working days. It will explain the process and when you might expect to hear an outcome.

How will I be kept up to date with progress about my application?

Once you have applied you will be contacted by the Short Break Assessment and Review Team. They will inform you of the next steps of the application process and what to expect next.

If you do not hear from the Short Breaks Team within 2 weeks of your application, you can contact them by email at sbassessment.review@nottscc.gov.uk

What are outcomes and how are these identified?

Outcomes are identified as part of the assessment, they are goals that can be achieved by children and young people and will be realistic and relevant to your child’s current needs. These are discussed and agreed with the parent or carer and will be reviewed annually alongside the Short Break annual review.

Short breaks provision and direct payments

What will happen once I have been awarded a short break as a result of a review?

On receipt of the request for a commissioned service, the Commissioning team will contact you to discuss how you would like to use your short break allocation.

You will be given the option of a Direct Payment to be used to either employ a Personal Assistant, a Direct Payment to pay for activities or a commissioned provider service.

How do I use my pre-payment card?

The card works in the same way as an ordinary debit card with internet banking. Details regarding how to use your card will be sent to you by the Commissioning Team.

For more information, download Direct Payment - pre-paid debit cards [PDF].

Why isn’t there any money on my pre-payment card?

Direct Payments are processed on a 4-weekly cycle. For security reasons, money will not be pre-paid onto your card. You should receive your fund within 4 weeks of receiving your card.

How do I send in receipts and bank statements?

If you are in receipt of a pre-payment card you do not need to send copies of bank statements to the Council. Receipts should be uploaded onto your PFS account through the ‘upload supporting documents’ on the PFS system and retained for 3 years.

What should I do if I forget my password or am locked out of my pre-payment card account?

You can also telephone the call centre between 9am and 6pm at 020 3633 1096

If my child or young person has been issued a direct payment for activities what am I allowed to spend this on?

If your child or young person has been issued a direct payment for activities, we have information on what activities the direct payment can be used for and a guidance leaflet.

For more information, go to Short Break - Providers and direct payments

Do you have a list of services that offer activities that my child/young person can access with their allocated short breaks money?

You can find information on a range of different services by going to SEND Local Offer Things to Do

You will be able to find further information on each service, including what they offer, dates, times and costs by clicking in to their individual record. Each service has also listed their contact details so you can make direct enquiries with them for further information.

I would like to employ a member of my family as a Personal Assistant?

Direct Payments can be used to pay relatives (not living in the same household as the child or with parental responsibility), as carers to meet the assessed need. By law, Direct Payments cannot be used to pay relatives who are living in the same household. The following Direct Payment guidance document has more information.

Download Guidance for a Children’s Direct Payment [PDF]

My child has a health need, for which my personal assistant requires training. How do I access training for the personal assistant?

Training for delegated healthcare tasks can be accessed via the Children's Community Training Team. Anyone can access this training free of charge.

To request training by online referral, go to Community Training Team: Training Information (Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust)

You can also call 0115 993 4544 or 0115 993 4545

Reviews and reapplying

Will I have to reapply for a short break or does my child keep it until they reach 18?

Standard Offer or any allocation of 96 hours or below you will need reapplication prior to the end of the 12-month period. The Commissioning Team will contact you before the allocation is due to end.

If your child receives 96 hours or more you will not need to reapply. The Short Break Team will contact you to discuss any changes since your last assessment and inform you of what to expect next.

My child’s needs have changed significantly and our family circumstances have changed since the allocation of short break hours but is not due another review for some time, what do I do?

Every child or young person who has a short break package of 96 hours or more will be reviewed by the Short Break Assessment and Review Team.

Should circumstances change and you would like to discuss the changes, please email the Short Break Assessment and Review Team at sbassessment.review@nottscc.gov.uk

Complaints

What can I do if I don’t feel that my application has been dealt with correctly?

If you feel that the processes as described have not been applied correctly to you in relation to your application for an Nottinghamshire County Council funded Short Break, you will need to write to the Council's complaints team detailing the reasons for bringing a complaint..

Complaints and Information Team
County Hall
West Bridgford
Nottingham
NG2 7QP

The Complaints Team will investigate on your behalf, communicating their findings and any potential outcomes when the investigation is concluded.

It should be noted that the complaints team only deal with matters of procedure, challenges to allocation levels should be raised via the appeals procedure.

If you are still not satisfied that procedures have been followed correctly, it is possible to complain to the Local Government Ombudsman.

Find out more on the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman website

What can I do if I am not satisfied with the quality of the short break offered by my provider?

Where services are commissioned directly by Nottinghamshire County Council, you should contact the Commissioning duty desk by email at commissoning.team@nottscc.gov.uk

Your complaint will then be investigated by the Market Development Officer.

How was the Short Break Offer developed?

The Short Break Offer was developed through a comprehensive, year-long process with parents and carers. The initiative began with a county-wide consultation. We gathered input from parents, carers, children and young people to identify areas for improvement.

After the consultation, a working group was formed with parents and carers and personnel from the local authority. This group met regularly to co-produce the Short Break Offer, integrating feedback and insights from the consultation into the final design.

This meant that the final design reflected the needs, preferences, and concerns of those directly affected by it - parents and carers and the children and young people receiving the Short Breaks.

Data security and processing

Why do I need to supply documentation within the online form giving personal data related to my child’s health and social care needs?

Part of the new design was to providing faster and more transparent decisions. The solution developed with parents and carers involved the use of a scoring criteria to determine eligibility based upon the needs of a child, where supporting documentation is required to verify eligibility scores.

Why does the online form ask for my child’s NHS number?

A child's NHS number is asked for so that it is possible to quickly and correctly identify your child when working with the health service. This enables more responsive and joined up service delivery.

This is not a mandatory field as not all parents or carers will know this information. This information is used purely for the purposes of service delivery and not as part of the scoring criteria.

What happens to the personal data that I provide as part of the application for an council funded Short Break?

In the event of an application being successful the information entered into the online form will be retained for the purpose of service provision for a period of time in accordance with the Information Commissioners Officer (ICO) data retention guidelines for children’s data.

The documents uploaded to support the initial application will not be retained, but a tick box record will be made to show the documentation was received and verified.

If an application for Nottinghamshire County Council funding is not successful, the data will be securely retained for a period of 100 days in case of an appeal being raised, and then automatically deleted.

Is the data that I provide held securely?

The data entered into the initial online form is held on internal Nottinghamshire County Council servers. These are protected by a firewall and also have a secure back-up system.

The data collection process has been subject to a security audit undertaken by council ICT colleagues to ensure that only authorised personnel involved in service delivery can view data.

All personnel involved in the handling of personal data at the Council have received training regarding data security in response to the new GDPR legislation.

Was privacy considered when designing the new Short Break offer?

Privacy has been at the forefront of the work to implement solutions co-produced with parents or carers for the provision of Short Breaks. This has been evidenced by the Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA) completed as part of this work, underpinning the data security aspects of the processes enabling service delivery.

Can I object to the use of an online portal to provide a decision on my child’s eligibility for a short break?

Applicants do have the right to object to the automated processing of their data. Applicants can request a paper copy by sending an email to sbassessment.review@nottscc.gov.uk

They can expect to receive a paper copy of the form within 10 working days of the request being sent.

The applicant will need to provide the same details as applicants using the online form and include relevant documentary evidence with the completed paper form. Nottinghamshire County Council recommends sending completed forms by recorded delivery. The form and accompanying evidence returned will be scored in the same way as an application received by the online form. However, due to the slower nature of communication, the decision will take longer to reach the applicant.