Short Breaks that support disabled children, young people and their families live ordinary lives

Research shows that a flexible, home based approach to short breaks can lessen the chances of families reaching crisis point. We believe that the Direct Short Breaks service can reduce stress for parents and carers while improving choice and control for children and young people.


Listen to Harley tell her story about what people think she can't do!

The Direct Short Breaks model

The KIDS Direct Short Breaks offers a professional service which provides a trained Short Break Worker to support families in a flexible and responsive way. This may include:

• Offering a helping hand on family outings
• Taking the child or young person out on trips and activities, including in universal service
• Engaging the child or young person in activities at home

This service has been developed through extensive consultation with Disabled children, young people and their families. It aims to reflect their wishes and is available to all families caring for a Disabled child or young person aged up to 25.

Aiming High for Disabled Children

Our service responds directly to the call from the government’s Aiming High for Disabled Children: Short Break Transformation programme. This programme requires all Local Areas to provide a range of short break options which are of the highest possible quality and respond flexibly to the child, young person’s and family’s requirements.

KIDS Direct Short Breaks has been awarded a Department for Children School and Families (DCSF) funding grant for this ‘innovative’ service. Read more by clicking on the logo.







See how Direct Short Breaks contributes towards the Every Child Matters outcomes by clicking on the logo.

The Social Care Institute for Excellence outlines research findings on Short Break care, to find out more click on the logo.

Our staff

We employ over 18s, who are often studying for care related qualifications at college or university. All Short Break Workers are fully Criminal Record Bureau (CRB) checked and will undertake a minimum of 9 hours training with KIDS prior to taking on the role. This is followed by a further 6 hours of compulsory training in post, complemented with continued support and supervision and opportunities for continued training leading to accredited qualifications.

All KIDS Direct Short Breaks staff will:

• Have a face to face interview
• Have an enhanced CRB check
• Have references taken
• Undertake child protection and safeguarding training
• Undertake training in everything from confidentiality and information sharing (Contact Point) to health & safety and responding to emergencies
• Keep a reflective diary of how they have applied their learning
• Be supervised by a KIDS local supervisor who will carry out observation in practice regularly

Click here to see the training modules available

Paying for and allocating Direct Short Breaks

The service is open to all and can be paid for by:

• Local Authority (if commissioned)
• Direct Payments
• Individualised Budgets
• Payment by service user

Local Authorities may enter a contract with KIDS to purchase a number of Direct Short Break hours. The Local Authority may then determine how many hours they will allocate to each family using the service, and the family is then directly responsible for booking their own breaks according to their own requirements and preferences.

This can all be done online or via our telephone helpline.

Want to know more?

Please consult this section’s Frequently Asked Questions for more details. However, should you have any further questions please do not hesitate to contact us.