Re-opening of Short Breaks for Children who are Disabled and/or have Complex Health Needs 17/18

We are looking to reopen and expand our Short Break Provider framework (set up in 2016) to extend the number of suitable service providers offering a range of varied short break opportunities for children, young people and their carers across Dorset. To provide a diverse range of breaks, the framework is split into the following categories:

Category 1 - Specialist Overnight Residential Short Breaks (thoughout Dorset, age 7 to the young person's 18th birthday). Category 2 - Specialist Saturday, after school and holiday Short Break sessions in Weymouth (age 7 to the young person's 18th birthday). Category 3 - Specialist Saturday, after school and holiday Short Breaks sessions throughout Dorset (excluding Weymouth, age 8 to the young person's 18th birthday). Category 4 - Sessional service (at home or in the community) throughout Dorset (age 5 to the young person's 18th birthday), including befriending/ buddy/ PA services (age 11 to the young person's 18th birthday). Category 5 - After school, weekend and holiday play, sport and activity sessions (age 5 to the young person's 18th birthday), throughout Dorset. Category 6 - Activity day and evening sessions for young people aged 15 to the young person's 18th birthday throughout Dorset.

For categories 1-3 service is only available to children and young people who have been assessed by the Social Care Team and meet the threshold to receive this level of support. Service from providers successfully placed on Framework Categories 1 - 2 will be called off following a referral made by Dorset County Council Social Care Teams. Service from providers under Framework Category 3 may be by way of call off or by annual block contract. Providers successfully placed on Framework Categories 4 - 6 will be invited to take part in a mini competition at the start of each financial year to allocate funds and define support for that year. Providers need to apply for each Category they are interested in and each Category will be evaluated independently. At the end of this exercise there will be an expansion of numbers of providers under each of the six framework categories. Existing framework members are invited to apply for membership of categories additional to their current category(s) if they are able to extend the range of opportunities they offer. This opportunity is due to go live on Supplying the Southwest on the 2nd October 2017 with a closing date of midday 23rd October 2017. Within the above categories there are some specific services that we are particularly seeking including Buddy Schemes, Sessional Support and Saturday/ Sunday Clubs. Further information is available in the Project attachments.