Short Breaks Consultation 2023

About Short Breaks

Short Breaks are supportive, family services that allow parents and carers to have time out from their caring responsibilities looking after children who have additional needs and/or disabilities. They also give children and young people with additional needs and/or disabilities the opportunity to go places, spend time with friends, take part in fun and enjoyable activities, become more independent and try new things.

Short Breaks services used to be called ‘respite care’. In Bristol, Short Breaks refers to several services run by Bristol City Council and other services which are funded by Bristol City Council and run by external organisations.

Why we are consulting

We need to make £273,340 of savings from next financial year onwards (2024-25). However, we intend to maintain a range of Short Breaks services across the city. We consulted you now on ways to make these savings.

Have your say

This consultation is now closed. The consultation was open from Monday 20 November to midnight on Tuesday 2 January 2024.

We also produced an Easy Read version which you could complete online, and an Easy Read PDF version which you could read online, print and post to us.

You can view a summary of the Short Breaks service and the consultation proposals which we shared at an event for parents and carers in early December 2023

What happens next?

All responses to this consultation will be analysed and the feedback will help us develop final proposals for the Short Breaks service.

Decisions on the proposals for Short Breaks will be made by the council’s Cabinet on 6 February 2024. Cabinet will take responses to the consultation into consideration when making their decisions.