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Short Breaks

Every Local Authority has a duty to provide a range of short breaks for children and young people with additional needs and disabilities. There are different levels of support available:

  • Universal Support
  • Early Help Short Breaks
  • Short Breaks

Short Breaks is specialist support above the level of Early Help Short Breaks. Short Breaks may be within the family home with specialist support, such as personal assistant, depending on the need of the child or young person and their family. Short Breaks can also include overnight stays, depending on the need of the child or young person, their family and the type of activity. This may be at the home of an approved Short Breaks Foster Carer or a Specialist Short Breaks Centre. These Short Breaks require a single assessment made through MASH.

Early Help Short Breaks are part of the City of York Council’s Early Help offer to provide disabled children and young people with opportunities to take part in enjoyable activities and develop vital skills, while giving their families a chance to rest from caring duties. It helps disabled children and young people to have positive experiences, become more independent and form friendships outside of their family.

Many Early Help Short Breaks activities can take place outside of the family home; for example, in local leisure centres or community spaces. All Early Help Short Breaks activities take place outside of the school day. This means that activities could happen in the evening, at a weekend or during school holidays. Early Help Short Breaks is not an education or childcare replacement and does not provide funding towards holidays.

Find out more about:

Early Help Short Breaks are available to children and young people who:

  • have a special educational need (SEN) or disability that has a significant impact on accessing community activities
  • are aged 0 to 18 years old
  • ordinarily reside within the City of York Local Authority

Support provided is dependent on available resources during each application window. It is also based on the assessed need of the child and the impact the funding could make. The maximum Early Help Short Break grant towards accessing community activities is £300 per application window.

You can apply for Early Help Short Breaks grant funding twice a year, in April and October, by completing and submitting the application form from the Local Offer page. Applications can only be submitted and accepted during these times.

You will need to share information about your disabled child’s needs, diagnosis or assessment pathway, interests and preferences for what activities Early Help Short Breaks funding could be used for, and the impact it could make. If your child has an EHCP or other supporting evidence of their needs, this will also be needed as part of their assessment. As a parent/carer, you would manage the grant spending with the funding allocated, and may be asked to provide evidence of impact as part of a review.

You will be notified if your child has been provided an Early Help Short Break grant based on your application, or if we need more information from you. If your child is not eligible for Early Help Short Breaks, we will also let you know and the reason why.

If your child is provided with an Early Help Short Break grant, you will need to reapply during the next application window. If your child is provided with a Personal Assistant (PA) budget, this will be reviewed annually.

If you are unable to access the application form but have a friend or support worker who could assist you to apply, we would encourage you to explore this in the first instance.

If you do not have any support to help you and are unable to complete the application form, please contact us with the details at the bottom of this page to discuss your accessibility needs.

April:

  • Application process opens - Tuesday 1 April 2025 at 9.00am
  • Application deadline - Wednesday 30 April 2025 at 5.00pm
  • Notifications issued by Friday 30 May 2025

October:

  • Application process opens - Wednesday 1 October 2025 at 9.00am
  • Application deadline - Friday 31 October 2025 at 5.00pm
  • Notifications issued by Friday 28 November 2025

Complete the Early Help Short Breaks application form.

This form may be inaccessible for users of assitive technology; request an accessible version.

You can get in touch by email: [email protected].

Financial support