This piece of research explored families’ experiences of the current short break offer, and how equal current services are across Essex and by listening to families we were able to gain a deeper understanding of what was working well and what could be better. The insights gathered will help inform what our future service offer could look like and identify new ideas innovation to support families, children and young people.
This research was undertaken during the Covid-19 pandemic when families were unable to access the full short breaks offer A mixed methodology was used with an initial survey yielding a high response rate of families who wanted to engage further. Using the survey as a recruitment tool for our virtual groups and interviews enabled us to ensure our sample represented an equitable range of demographics.
The insight from this research will primarily be used to:
•Help shape the commissioning intentions for the re-procurement of the children with disabilities short breaks offer.
•Inform the refresh of the short break strategy for children with disabilities.
•This work will also inform part of wider system changes within ECC and beyond.
