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To: West Berkshire Council

Short Break Funding Cuts in West Berkshire

Recently the High Court found that in March 2016 West Berkshire Council had unlawfully cut the funding for disabled children's short breaks in West Berkshire despite representations from families and a petition with over 3,500 signatures.
These cuts affected short breaks provided by West Berkshire Mencap, Oxfordshire Crossroads and others and we the undersigned now urge you to reinstate the funding which supports the most vulnerable members of our society and their hard pressed families.

Why is this important?

The term ‘Short Breaks’ for families of disabled children, conjures up a beautiful and relaxed vision of families merrily enjoying weekends away, holidays abroad and special, celebratory times with family and all at the expense of the tax payer, when in reality this could not be further from the truth.
These short breaks are periods of respite for the families giving them precious time to spend with their other children whose needs are, through sheer necessity, often placed a distant second to their disabled sibling’s complex care needs.
This time often allows families do the ordinary everyday tasks that many of us take for granted, such as homework, going swimming, maybe a trip to the cinema and spending priceless time with their parents. Parents often carry out the more mundane domestic tasks such as washing, cleaning and shopping during these times. Other parents access these services to enable them to take part in social activities, maintain friendships and relationships, and access further training or have some simple down time to recuperate so they are able to continue to care for their child at home.
The few short hours our special children spend at the specialised after-school clubs, Youth Clubs, Holiday Play Schemes, Saturday Clubs and overnight breaks, with highly trained staff who can meet their complex needs, enables many parents to continue to work full time and provide valuable financial contributions to the economy and local community.
The short breaks undeniably enable families to cope with their extraordinary day to day life. The withdrawal of these short breaks will have a catastrophic effect on some families who will quickly become unable to cope and will be faced with one of the most heart breaking decisions any parent will be forced to make, which is to move their child into a residential setting, thus splitting their family forever.
Our special children simply cannot access mainstream activities, no matter how much we would love this to be the case and these short breaks give each and every one of them the opportunity to socialise with their peers, to laugh, to play, to be children – how can anyone deny them this? Would it be acceptable to close all of the mainstream playgrounds, groups, holiday schemes, after-school clubs and social activities? The answer to this we are sure, would be a resounding NO!
Parents of our special children must invest huge amounts of time and energy to meet the care requirements and demands of their disabled children and they do this without question and at great personal cost, as this is what parents do for their children.
The savings being made are potentially equal to the cost just one child moving into residential care? By keeping the funding in place you will support hundreds of children and families for the same cost as one in care.

West Berkshire

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Updates

2016-08-11 13:55:01 +0100

100 signatures reached

2016-08-10 09:39:37 +0100

50 signatures reached

2016-08-09 23:07:38 +0100

25 signatures reached

2016-08-09 21:37:53 +0100

10 signatures reached