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Short Breaks in Ealing

Short breaks offer a way of supporting carers by providing opportunities for children and young people to spend time away from their primary carers. This may include day, evening, overnight or weekend activities and can take place at the child’s home, in their local community, at the home of an approved carer, or other residential setting.

In each case a qualified professional will look after the child engaging them in fun activities (as appropriate) whilst their primary carers get an opportunity to relax.

Short break providers often have access to facilities not normally available to disabled children. Some, but not all short breaks are free of charge. Ealing Council offers short breaks as well as the NHS and charities such as Mencap and Kids.

Ealing's Short Breaks Statement & Review, can be downloaded from the right hand side of this page under 'Useful Reading'.

Quality Short breaks services should be person centred and flexible and suit the needs, wants and wishes of the child or young person and their families and support the child or young person to achieve positive outcomes. To this end they may range from supporting children with disabilities and young people to access universal, mainstream services through to providing specialist services at local level.

Consideration is given to the needs of the child or young person and their family, including cultural, linguistic and religious needs.

Short breaks occur on a regular and planned basis and should be part of a wider programme of support, which is regularly reviewed. 

Some short break services are commissioned by Ealing Council and may be provided by a range of agencies to include, local authorities, health providers, voluntary and independent sector organisations.

Please visit our Events page to find Short Break services and events taking place near you.

Please also take a look at our Support for Carers page and our Childcare Options page for more information.

The different types of short breaks you can get

Universal Services and Inclusion
Universal services are services available to everyone and with no need for any kind of referral. For example, leisure centres and sporting activities, libraries, playgrounds, extended school activities and youth clubs, are available for all children and young people to access and enjoy. 

Ealing’s goal is to ensure that more children and young people with disabilities have the opportunity to be included in mainstream, universal, community and leisure settings. Genuine inclusion means services, which are designed and equipped to ensure children and young people with disabilities have access to the same activities and opportunities as their peers.

When searching this Local Offer website for activities, you'll find that we use SEND Provision symbols alongside activity providers to show what's on offer where in terms of specialist services and facilities.

Targeted services
Some children and young people may need to access groups or services that are specifically designed to meet their needs.

Ealing Council commissions some short breaks for children and young people. For example, holiday playschemes in special educational needs schools, specialist sports and swimming sessions and specialist youth services at Westside Youth Centre.
Please note that some providers may make a charge to parents to use services.

Specialist short breaks
If specialist provision is required as part of a support plan this will require an assessment by a social worker from the Children with Disabilities Team. Specialist support will be arranged and the effectiveness of the support will be reviewed regularly.

Specialist Short Breaks in Ealing :

Haydock Avenue Short Breaks offer a way of supporting carers by providing opportunities for children and young people aged 8 to 18 years old to spend time away from their primary carers.

This may include day, evening, overnight or weekend stays.

For more information visit Haydock Avenue Short Breaks Service Centre |  Ealing Directory (ealingfamiliesdirectory.org.uk)

Information on other short break services will be added shortly. 

Childcare & Out of School Providers

All childcare providers and out of school clubs such as after school clubs and holiday playscheme providers have an obligation to make reasonable adjustments to accomodate children / young people with Special Educational Needs or a Disability. However, services and facilities vary greatly from one provider to the other.

Within this Local Offer website, we've used 'SEND Symbols' against the provider's details as a quick reference for parents / carers searching the site as to who provides what services and facilities.

Where these symbols are not in use, please contact the provider for more information. You can search for a childcare provider near you, by searching 'childcare' and your postcode in the search bars at the top of this page.

Accessing Specialist Short Breaks

An assessment from the Children with Disabilities  (CWD) Team  is required to access specialist short breaks. In some circumstances, this assessment may be undertaken by another social work team.

Referrals go through Ealing Children's Integrated Response Service (ECIRS), who will decide if the child should be referred to the Children with Disabilities (CWD) Team within ESCAN. The CWD team will be responsible for referrals of children with a severe or profound disability and complex needs. This includes children with a physical or learning disability, complex health needs or those on the Autistic Spectrum.

Children with a disability are assessed according to the impact the impairment has on their quality of life and that of their family. Help is designed to be family-centred and promote social inclusion.

Telephone: 020 8825 8000  Option 1 and Option 1

Email: ecirs@ealing.gov.uk

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